


Hunted

by Dom_Avner



Series: Shared Universe [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, reupload, will include crossovers going forward
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2019-09-27 05:24:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17156045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dom_Avner/pseuds/Dom_Avner
Summary: Max Caulfield hates her life: She's given this incredible power, reunites with her oldest friend (who she definetely doesn't have a crush on), only to find out that her power is threatening to destroy her hometown and that the only way to stop this from happening is by going back in time one last time and letting Chloe die.But upon arriving in the past, something happens. Fate seems to give her a new chance. But this new chance comes with a catch: a sinister force is trying to get to her and use her powers for himself...





	1. The new timeline

**Author's Note:**

> Soo... how to best explain this?  
> A few of you may think 'Hey, this sounds familiar'. And you know what? You're right. As the tags indicate, this is something of a re-upload of my first LiS-Fanfiction, '"I'll always be with you. Now and forever."', which I accidentally deleted yesterday.  
> Upon noticing it, and going through the general draft of the story, I decided that I could speed things slightly up for the Shared Universe, my monumental project, of which this will now be the first part, by combining 'Always with you' with 'Hunted', the real first part of the series (as the former was merely the prequel to it).  
> So, a few things will seem quite similar to those among you who have read 'Always with you' in the first chapters.  
> Anyways, enough of me, enjoy!

When Max reawakened in the girl's bathroom in Blackwell Academy, she cried. 

She cried because of her decision to go back here, to the day everything had started for her, and let Chloe Price, her best friend, the girl she secretely loved, die at the hands of Nathan Prescott. She cried because she hadn't had the courage to tell Chloe how she really felt until it had been to late. She cried, because even though she did the 'right' thing, it simply felt wrong to her to let Chloe die here.

She looked at the blue butterfly, at the picture she had taken of it, before tearing it appart in anger. 'This is all your fault, you asshole', she thought, as she heard Nathan enter the room from what seemed to be the other side of the world. 'Without you, I wouldn't be able to do this.'

Upon hearing Chloe enter and rant about her stepfather, Max could barely contain her sobs. Chloe didn't deserve any of this. She didn't deserve to die at Nathans hands, she didn't deserve the hurt that the death of Rachel Amber had brought to her - or would still bring, Max remembered. 

How could she have done this? How could Max have decided that Chloe, this strong girl, had to die here, in order to save everyone else? How could she do this to the girl she loved?

When Chloe started screaming at Nathan, telling him to pack away the gun, Max covered her ears, even though she knew that it wouldn't do her any good. She only sat there, waiting for the fatal shot, for Chloe's scream, for David Madsen to storm the bathroom to arrest Nathan.

But it never came.

Instead, Max heard an annoyed voice saying: "What is all this screa--- OH MY GOD! HE HAS A GUN!" 

The brunette opened her eyes again (when had she closed them?) and linsed around the corner, seeing not only Nathan and Chloe, but also Victoria Chase standing in the doorframe, her mouth covered by her hands, completely shocked at the scene in front of her.

Then, everything else happened in a blur. Max heard Chloe screaming: "Don't EVER touch me again, freak!", she heard a shot being fired at someone, she heard both Chloe and Victoria screaming, and the next thing she realized that she was lying on top of Nathan, screaming something at him, hitting him until his face ressembled a bloody mess and he was weeping like a baby, until someone pulled her away from him. 

She then saw David Madsen putting binders on a crying Nathan and leading him out of the bathroom, while just about every single student stood outside of the bathroom, with the teachers trying to keep them back.

"Holy... shit." Those two words pulled Max out of the loop she was caught in, and she turned around to see Chloe, leaning against a wall, smiling at her. "This has to be the most badass thing I've ever seen you do, Max."

 "Chloe!" Max ran towards her, pulling her into a hug. "Easy there", the blue-haired girl said, still breathless. "You know, you could have let me know that you... were back..." She shook herself.

"Chloe, are you... are you okay?" As soon as these words left her mouth, Max wished she could kick herself in the ass. 'Of course she can't be okay! She was just threatened with a gun, idiot!'

"Eh, I think I'll live", she replied, removing her hands from her stomach. 

Max couldn't believe her eyes: Chloe's hands were colored red from blood, and her shirt had a hole in it, but the area beneath it was unharmed. The only thing which was there was an ugly scar, where the bullet had seemingly gone through.

"How is this possible?", she asked.

"What do you mean? Did the shithead hit me after all?", Chloe asked in return, completely confused. "Chloe, look at your hands", Max told.

The blue-haired girl did as she said, before looking at Max again. Then she looked down, at the hole in her shirt, and then she glared at Max again. "Ok, what the actual fuck?"

* * *

 

When the police arrived, they questioned both of them.

Max told them she had hidden in a corner, to scared by what was going on. Chloe said that she had been visiting her stepfather, a story which Mr. Madsen confirmed, to everyones surprise. She said that she didn't know what Nathan had been doing with a gun, or why the shot hadn't hit her (somehow, Chloe had managed to wash the blood off her hands and explain both the hole in her shirt as well as the scar).

Arcadia Bay Police searched for the bullet, but couldn't find anything. They then came to the conclusion that the gun, although loaded with actual bullets, must have had a fake bullet inside the magazine. Max didn't ask how they came to that conclusion. It seemed strange, but she wasn't going to ask how it could have happened. Her mind was occupied with other things, anyway.

She met up with Chloe later that day, in her dorm room at Blackwell. She was afraid of how this meeting would go, given that they hadn't seen each other for five years, without having talked to each other.

However, things were even more difficult.

"Ok, spit it out, Max", Chloe said as soon as she had closed the door behind her. "What the hell is really going on with you?"

Max hesitated, before starting to explain. She didn't know what kind of reaction to expect. Would Chloe think she had gone mad? Would she laugh in her face? 

But Chloe simply listened, as Max explained the events of the other timeline for the first time. Then for a second, because Chloe was somewhat lost. Then for a third time.

After the fifth time, Chloe interrupted her. 

"Ok, ok, time-out, Max! So: you can rewind time." Max nodded. "And you used this power to save my ass over and over." She nodded again. "And we used it to... to find..." "Rachel, yes", Max completed her sentence, when Chloe's voice broke.

"But by using this power, you somehow fucked up time and created a tornado which was going to destroy Arcadia Bay." "Yes. And then you asked me to go back and... fix it."

Chloe shook her head. "This has to be the craziest thing I've ever heard. And you know what?"

Max looked at her. "What?" "I actually believe it."

Max couldn't believe her ears. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do. I mean, seriously, how cool is this? You can rewind time!"

"Chloe, I don't think you've fully understood what I said. I created a tornado by using this power to often! I nearly killed the entire town!" Max shook her head. "I won't use this... power ever again."

Chloe smiled at her. "No, it's you who doesn't understand what you said. You saved my life, Max. You stopped Pisscock and Jeffershit from comitting even more crimes. You're a hero. And", Chloe took her hands, "I don't care that you can't use those powers anymore. You're still you, and that's enough for me."

Max smiled. "Thank you, Chloe. You have no idea how much this means to me." 

"What I do care about is that you disappeared for five years", Chloe went on. "And that you didn't bother to contact me for all this time."

"I know. I'm... I'm really sorry, Chloe. I know I should have done something to keep in touch", Max replied quietly, feeling all the guilt coming down.

"Ah, well, ancient history by now", Chloe said. "Just... just don't do something like that to me again, 'kay?"

"I won't", Max answered. "I promise."

* * *

 

On the other side of the country, a man awoke from his dreams.

He usually suffered from nightmares, bad memories which haunted him for years now. This dream had been different, though. It had been much clearer than the others, and it hadn't been a memory, either. instead, he had dreamt of a young girl with brown hair he didn't know, and a tornado threatening to destroy a city. From what he had gathered, she seemed to have the same ability as him. 

'She's the key', he realized. He had waited for a long time for this moment, a moment in which his suffering would end. And it seemed like this girl, this person he hadn't even met yet, would finally give him the power to fix the mistakes from his past.

He glanced upon the tattoo on his right forearm, the painful memory which haunted him since his childhood. 'Soon, Grace. Soon, all will be right.'

His eyes wandered back up, the left one green, the right one blue, as he looked at his collection of clues. All leads which had led to nowhere, all failures. But now, he had found the way.

Now, all he had to do was find  _her._


	2. Clean-up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, 5 kudos already? Thank you, guys!  
> Anyways, I have a quick announcement concerning coming chapters: due to the fact that I'll be quite busy with school starting from january, I can only promise one new chapter per month (I'll try to make it more, but one is the maximum I can promise). And in april/may/maybe june, I won't be able to upload at all due to my terminal exams. Just a quick warning along the way.  
> I've also begun expanding the series, adding another favorite character of mine into it. The story is called 'The Stroke of Death' (link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17184047/chapters/40403672) and is a Deathstroke origin story. It only has one chapter for now, but there will be more to come.

"You planning to go to your classes today, hipster?", was the first thing Chloe asked when Max opened her door.

"Good morning to you, too", the brunette girl replied, yawning. "And no, I won't. Wells has decided to close down the Academy till this matter has been sorted out."

"Oh, good", the punk girl replied. "Then get dressed, Max. We got places to be."

'Wonder what she means by that', she thought to herself before saying: "Alright, gimme a moment."

She pushed herself past Chloe and walked towards the girl's showers.

As, the water rained down, she thought about what had happened. About how Victoria had walked into the bathroom, something that didn't happen in the original timeline. Or was this the original timeline? Max didn't know anymore. 

But whatever had caused the change, it had Max worried. If saving Chloe's life had caused a tornado, what would happen now? Would a bunch of aliens invade Earth, like in New York? Or would it rather cause a meteor to crash down on Arcaida Bay? 

Voices outside the shower caused her to stop that line of thought, though. She didn't recognize them, at first. As she listened, though, she realized it was Courtney, Taylor and Victoria.

'Plotting their next bitch move?', she wondered, when Victoria said: "I swear, I didn't know anything about this!"

"Oh, quit lying", Courtney hissed. "You and Nathan were like this! You must have known he was gonna kill that girl."

"Yeah, you knew,  _Victoria."_ That was Taylor. "And you would have let it happen. You're nothing but a dirty, despicable being."

"If I had known he was going to pull of shit like that, why would I have gone to the bathroom?", Victoria asked. It was probably meant to sound snappish, but it sounded more like a plea. And for a moment, Max pitied Victoria, despite everything she had done to her.

"Maybe shit like that gets you off, psycho", Courtney replied. "You should just do us all a favor and go to hell, where you belong."

"But I  _didn't know!"_ Victoria sounded really desperate by now, and she even - was that a sob?

"Come on, Courtney, she's not worth it", Taylor said. "Yeah, let's go."

Max heard the door opening and then closing, and then she heard Victoria crying.

She didn't know what to do. Part of her just wanted to finish her shower, get dressed and leave, without paying the crying girl any attention. Part of her wanted to go out and taunt her, too. This would be just. It would be... what Victoria would do.

Max sighed. 'Fuck it', she thought as she got dressed. 'Time to do the right thing.'

She left the shower and walked towards Victoria, who had burried her face in her hands.

"Hey, Victoria", she said softly. The sobbing immediately stopped, and the girl looked up. Her eyes narrowed. 'Uh-oh', Max thought.

"Get out", Victoria hissed. "GET OUT!"

Max took a few steps back, fearful. "I'm sorry, Victoria, I heard you crying and I thought you--"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!", Victoria screamed, and Max, realizing her plan had backfired, turned tail and ran out of the shower room.

Chloe was already waiting for her. "Shit, you look like you've seen a ghost!", she laughed.

"Not quite", Max replied. "What I did see was a crying Victoria who then lashed out at me."

Chloe fell silent. "Queen-Bitch was crying?", she asked sceptical. Max nodded. "Looks like Blackwell has turned on her. I just overheard Taylor and Courtney giving her shit."

"Kinda deserved it", Chloe muttered as they made their way to her truck. Max stopped in her tracks. "They called her a dirty, despicable being, Chloe. I don't like Victoria either, but not even she deserves that."

The blunette let out a long sigh. "I know. It's just..." "It's easy to hate her, isn't it?" Max smiled weakly. "I know the feeling."

Chloe sighed again. "Alright, enough with that. We gotta go."

"B-but what about breakfast?", Max protested as Chloe grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the truck. 

Chloe just rolled her eyes. "That's where I'm taking you, girlfriend", she explained as they got into the vehicle and drove off. "Time you had my mom's waffles again."

Max's face immediately lit up.

* * *

 

[Washington D.C., RAENA-HQ]

"I'm glad you could finally make it, Agent Monfort", Eric Kirby said with disdain in his voice.

Chris Monfort simply shrugged and sat down across the table. "Sorry boss, traffic from Queens to here was a nightmare", he explained.

Kirby nodded, his mouth a fine line, as he glanced towards his top operative.

It was obvious where this look came from: unlike Kirby, who always wore a black suit, a white shirt and a tie that was either black, red, or blue, Chris wore a pair of jeans, military boots, a 'FFDP'-t-shirt and a black leather jacket. His badge, identifying him as a RAENA-operative, was clipped to his leather belt, as usual, right next to his handgun. And, as always, he wore his mirrored sunglasses.

In short, he didn't fit in. Not that he minded this fact, though. Chris never let an opportunity to piss off the director of RAENA, of whom he didn't hold in high regard.

"I see", Kirby said and gave him a file. "I have a new assignment for you."

Chris took of his sunglasses and opened the file. "Yeah? Clean-up again?"

"Precisely. One of our patrons in Oregon has been compromised. He may try to pull himself from justice by blackmailing us", Kirby went on to explain. "So you want me to silence him", Chris said with a grin. Now  _that_ was an assignment to his likings.

"Silence him and make sure no one finds out he has been working with RAENA", the director clarified. "The details are in the file."

"Got it. Clean up everything, silence people, make sure it can't be traced back to us", Monfort said, still grinning and got up.

"There is another matter", Kirby stopped him. "We need to put Jericho to full strength again."

The grin disappeared. 

"Why?", Chris asked. "The Diaz-incident left your team a member short, didn't it?", Kirby asked. "So, we must refill. I've already sent a recruit ahead to the airport. She'll wait for you there."

Chris nodded begrudgingly before leaving the office. 'Recruiting people for Jericho is  _my_ job!',he thought. 'Kirby shouldn't meddle with this!'

He went straight down to his truck and got in, driving straight to the airport.

He had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you wonder what alien invasion I mean: Take a look at the series description :)


	3. Red Jericho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy (albeit late xD) New Year from my side!  
> I'm sorry for the long pause, but I was busy with school and similar stuff, and I will continue to be so, so updates will be sporadic. I'm really sorry about it, but I can't change it.

Mary Broadwell was many things. Punctual was usually one of them. But after being stuck in traffic for nearly an hour, it came as little surprise that she arrived late to her appointment at the airport.

When she got there though, she immediatly realized her destination: a big military-grade airplane, colored black, with a white shield on the side, in which she noticed a black skullesque form flanked by two lightnings. She new the symbol very well; it was the sigil of the Research Agency for ExtraNatural Activites, short RAENA. 

Mary parked her car a few steps from the plane and walked towards it. There was some sort of commotion going on; operatives were barking orders at the ground crew, who were busy loading crates of equipment (at least, that was what Mary supposed was in them) into the plane.

"Hold it, Missy", a deep voice suddenly interrupted her observations. A giant of a man, nearly seven feet tall, with a bald head, dark brown eyes and a fiery red beard walked towards her. "Who are you and where do you think you're going?" 

The man spoke with a heavy accent, Mary noticed. Maybe he was from Europe? 

"I'm Agent Broadwell, Sir", Mary answered and showed him her badge. "I'm looking for Agent Monfort."

The man nodded with a dark look in his eyes. "Viktor Demarev", he introduced himself and gave her his hand, which she quickly shook. "Monfort's over there. He's in a bit of a bad mood, though." He pointed to a man leaning on a crate, supervising the ground crew.

Mary thanked Demarev and walked towards him. "Agent Monfort?", she called out, at which he turned around to face her.

Now that she saw his face, Mary immediatly recognized Chris Monfort. It would have been hard not to do so, anyway; his face was fairly distinct from the others, due to his long, blonde locks which he had combed back, his goatee and mustache, both well-groomed and the fact that his left eye was green and his right eye blue.

"Agent Broadwell", he answered with a disapproving tone in his voice. "You're late."

"I'm sorry Sir, I was stuck in traffic", she apologized. Monfort glanced at her for a while, then nodded. "Fair enough. You know the assignment?"

"I read the file, Sir, but I have a few--" "Chris!", a voice interrupted her. Both Mary and Monfort looked towards the speaker, who turned out to be an asian-looking man with short black hair.

"Got some bad news!", he said, which led Monfort to walk towards him, leaving Mary standing at the crate.

"You're looking lost, kid", a female voice said, which, as Mary realized, belonged to a tall, athletic woman with light blonde hair and grey eyes who had just walked out of the plane. "You must be our new addition."

"I am", Mary confirmed and introduced herself to the woman. "Good to meet you, Mary", the woman answered. "I'm Ana Radow, Jericho's second-in-command." The two shook hands, and Radow asked with a smile, "So, what do you think of your new team?"

Mary looked around, deep in thought. She had read the files on Jerichos past missions, so she had a fairly good idea of what was awaiting her. She wasn't sure whether she liked it or not, though. While she had previously worked in prosecution, Jericho was a special operations squad, specialized in covert hit operations. Not exactly her field of expertise, she found. It had been quite the surprise when Director Kirby had offered her a place on Jericho. They were his top unit; not just anyone was able to just join them. 

Looking back now, Kirby's claim that Monfort wouldn't mind her being on the team seemed wrong, as the team leader had been rather blunt towards her.

"It's... certainly interesting to be here", she finally said, and Radow grinned. "Welcome to the big league, Broadwell", she said, before growing serious again. "We're not always like this, though."

"What do you mean?", Mary asked confused. Radow waved her hand. "You gotta understand that we're in a bit of a rush right now. The operation in Oregon is very important, and Kirby's decision to add you last second upset quite a few people."

"Like Agent Monfort?", she guessed, and Radow nodded. "Yeah. Usually, Chris picks the people he wants on the team and forwards their files to Kirby. That he decided to give you the free spot without counceling with Chris first... let's just say that it didn't improve their relationship."

"Agent Monfort and Director Kirby don't get along?", Mary asked, which caused the other woman to laugh. "That's an understatement! They've been at each others throats ever since Chris started working for RAENA. In fact--"

"Change of plans, Ana", Monfort interrupted, and Mary flinched upon hearing his voice. When on Earth had he come back, and how was he able to move so silently?

"We're gonna go after Prescott Senior first", he continued. "He's currently on the move, trying to save his sorry ass out of Oregon."

"What's the plan?", Radow asked, and Monfort smirked. "Oh, you're gonna hate it." And he winked.

This caused the woman to roll her eyes. "Do what you have to do", was all she said. "Oh, I intend to", Monfort grinned. He had apparently completely forgotten Mary's presence, since he didn't address her any further and borded the plane in order to talk to the pilot.

Half an hour later, Mary and the rest of Jericho boarded the plane and took their seats. They were about twelve people, sitting along the sides of the plane, each and everyone wearing tactical gear. Mary was seated in between Radow and the asian-american, who introduced himself as David Ying.

She didn't know how long they had already been flying in complete silence, when the voice of the pilot suddenly broke it. "10 minutes to target."

Monfort released his seatbelt and got up. "Alright, you know what to do! Lock and load!", he ordered.

Five of the remaining agents, including the tall man, Demarev, followed Monfort's example, loaded their weapons and secured them on their vests.

"Sync micros", Monfort said before adding "Call in signs."

"Bear ready", Demarev said. "Shadow ready", a woman with red hair said. "Leopard ready", a latino with a scar on his eyebrow said. 

Mary shot a wondering glance towards Radow, who simply rolled her eyes again, but didn't say anything.

"This is Viper", Monfort said. "Time til drop?" 'Drop?', Mary wondered. 'What drop?'

"Three minutes", the response came over the speaker, and Monfort said: "Put on masks."

All six agents took breathing masks and pulled them over their heads before putting on their helmets. 

"Lock cables", Monfort ordered, and all six took long, black steel cables and latched them to their vests. 

"Sixty seconds til drop", the pilot said. "Opening hatch." A red flashlight went on, along with a siren, and the boarding ramp lowered itself. Wind blew into the plane, as the six agents stood motionless before it, until Monfort barked: "Now!"

Then, everything happened in a rush. All six agents ran forward to the edge of the ramp and _jumped._ Mary could hardly contain a surprised and stunned "What the hell?" as she watched the cables roll until they suddenly straightened. She turned to Radow and asked: "What are they doing?" 

* * *

Monfort loved the rush. 

While he fell downwards, towards the Gulfstream right below them, he already took his weapon and unlocked it. Still, he took some time to experience and enjoy the wind rushing past him, the sound of his breath in his own ears, and the sight of the plane growing bigger and bigger in front of him. 

Then, when the cables straightened, the six agents split up. Chris, Demarev and Alice, the redhead, went on the right side of the plane, while the other three went let themselves be blown to the left. Their heavy boots bumped against the hull of the smaller plane when they hit it, and the three agents immeadiatly opened fire, spraying bullets through the windows and the hull, painting the inside red with blood.

* * *

 

Mary could hardly believe what Radow had just told her. "Is that.. But... Please don't tell me this is a regular thing!", she finally stuttered.

Radow groaned. "That would be even worse", she answered. "No, fortunately, we don't do stunts like that too often."

Mary nodded, relieved. Then, she asked another question. "Why aren't you with them?"

Radow groaned again while Ying on her other side chuckled. "I'm unfit for this kind of... operation", she explained.

"Unfit? But how?"

"She means she's got a fear of hights", Ying clarified, for which he received a death glare from the blonde woman.

* * *

 

Chris waved towards Demarev and pointed at the plane door. The hungarian showed no further reaction other than swinging towards it and placing a small package of detonite on it. After swinging back to safety, the bomb exploded, ripping out the door  -and an unlucky man standing right next to it -  and sending both flying away, nearly hitting Alice. Monfort swung towards the newly created hole in the plane and climbed through it into the aircraft.

What followed was the most dangerous part of the operation: In order to move freely on the plane, Chris had to remove the cable holding him secure. However, due to the fact that they were several miles over the ground, moving very fast, and that the hole in the plane had created a drop of pressure (not to mention the possibility of surviving guards), this was very risky, and required timing. 

One hand on his handgun, Monfort reached for the cable and removed it from his vest before attaching it to a convienently formed piece of metal and moved further in.

In the main room of the plane, he found five dead guards along two stewardesses and one young woman only wearing underwear - probably a prostitute Prescott had brought on board - and one heavily breathing, slightly overweight man hiding behind a sofa. Chris didn't hesitate; he fired two shots at Sean Prescott, who didn't even get the chance to plead for mercy before being hit in chest and head. 

"Viper to airteam", he called in, "I have found and eliminated the target."

"Copy that", the response from the plane came. "Pull out now."

Chris made his way back to where he had attached his cable and made an attempt to reattache it to his vest when something hit his shoulder. Turning around, he saw one of Prescotts guards - seemingly the last - pointing a gun at him and ready to fire again. 

He didn't get the chance, though, as Monfort fired three quick shots, all three hitting the man in the chest. He then turned around again and relatched the cable to his vest before leaving the plane, which was now going down. A quick look at the engines confirmed to him that the other five agents had shot them out, causing the plane to crash in the near future.

He hardly noticed the RAENA-aircraft pulling the six agents back up and into the cargo hold until they were there; and when they were, he was the first to remove his mask and take a deep breath. He hated those big, bulky things. He then looked at his left shoulder, where the bullet from the guard had hit him; it had somehow missed the plating of his vest and made its way past the reinforced jacket beneath it, but the wound had already healed, and the only indictator that something had happened was a small round hole.

"Well, there goes the first target", he smirked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo... I know this isn't very realistic, but since this is set in a crossover series, the rule of cool obviously applies, which allows this sort of stunt.  
> For those wanting to have a look at the RAENA-symbol: https://www.deviantart.com/tanishendran/art/RAENA-787859533  
> Til next time!


	4. Talking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that? A new chapter and it hasn't been a month yet?  
> Well, since I'm feeling creative today and have some spare time, I decided to go ahead and already upload the next chapter. To make up for lost time, basically.

"You know what I don't get, though?"

Max looked up from her plate and at Chloe. "Huh? Wha'?", she asked with her mouth full.

"Gee, and to think you gave  **me** shit when I talked with my mouth full when we were kids", Chloe laughed, at which Max rolled her eyes and quickly swallowed the piece of waffle while desperately trying not to blush. She had no idea Chloe still remembered that.

"Anyway, why did you think that you caused this tornado? Like, I get that part with overuse of powers leading to strange shit happening, but what made you believe that you created a fuckin' tornado?"

Max sighed. "It's... hard to explain. Like, this part is even weirder than the rest I told you. To be honest, I don't understand it myself."

Chloe leaned back and smirked. "Well, I dare you to tell me. Maybe I'll have some idea 'bout it." She dropped the smirk however, when she saw that Max's facial expression.

The brunette sighed.  "I had this weird-ass vision. I was in some sort of... I don't know how to describe this place. I think it was a product of my mind, piecing together stuff from the week that had happened, but somehow also tearing it up."

Chloe blinked. "That doesn't make any sense."

Max grinned weakly. "You'd need to experience it to get it, I guess. Anyway, at some point of this... this vision thing I met... a version of myself. Like, it was someone who looked like me, sounded like me and spoke like me. But at the same time, it wasn't really me. She... was really mean. Like, calling me a hypocrite and... and..."

She started to sob silently, and Chloe reached out her hand and took Max's, whispering: "She can't do anything to you anymore, Max. She's not here. And if she was... I'd kick her ass for making you cry."

Max laughed. "You kinda did. While this other Max said all those.. things, you came in and verbally crushed her. That way, I was able to snap out of what she said."

"Huh, good to know: I can fuckin' roast the Anti-Max", Chloe said grinning, which caused Max to laugh even more. 

It was good to see her like that, Chloe realized. She only knew the gist of what had happened in that last week, but it was enough for her to know that it would have crushed any other person.

She really, really felt sorry for her.

Anyways, one thing I realized during this vision - one of the things the... Anti-Max had said - was that I fucked up time and space to save you."

"And this caused the tornado", Chloe completed the story, to which Max nodded.

"Yeah. But the thing I still don't get is that I received the tornado vision before I actually discovered my powers."

"Wait, so you had your daydream before getting those powers?" Chloe frowned. "That makes even less sense than the rest, and that's saying something."

"Exactly. I feel that there's something I'm missing, but I just don't get what it is!" Max sighed, clearly frustrated.

"Hey..." Chloe smiled at her. "You'll figure it out, sooner or later. And even if you don't, it's over. No more tornados coming our way, no psycho teachers, only the usual young people problems: teachers, classmates, and love."

"You have no idea how glad I am that this is... wait, what do you mean with love?"

Chloe was barely able to contain her laughter, seeing Max's confused (and slightly terrified) face. "Oh, nothing, nothing at all."

"Uh-uh", Max made with a sceptical face. "Then why did you call me 'girlfriend' earlier?"

Now, it was Chloe's turn to blush as she choked on her piece of waffle. "Dude, there... I mean, that was... you're seriously bringing that up  _now?"_

Max laughed. It was good to see her laugh, Chloe thought. "Hey, you started it!"

 Chloe didn't answer that, instead she flipped her a piece of waffle to the face, which caused Max to flinch and make a disgusted noice. "Ew! Seriously?"

She was met with Chloe's roaring laughter, and made attempts to do the same thing, when Joyce's amused voice interrupted the two girls. 

"As much as I love seeing you two get along, please don't make a mess out of my workspace", she scolded them with a smile on her face. Chloe merely rolled her eyes. "Damnit mom, you're no fun."

Now, it was Max's turn to roll her eyes, as she said: "You do know that she's right, or?" "Yeah, yeah", Chloe muttered. 

When Joyce was called to another table, she leaned over to Max. "Whatya say we hit the junkyard?"

Max smiled. "Why not?"

* * *

The black military aircraft landed with a few bumps on the runway, and Mary was thankful for it.

After the stunt that Monfort and the others had pulled off a few hours earlier, she wasn't entierly sure anymore whether or not her position in Jericho was a good idea, especially given the fact that Monfort didn't want her on the team.

"Alright, listen up", said agent now spoke up. "It's a two-hour-drive to Arcadia Bay. Alpha will take care of Prescott Junior and Jefferson, Blue of Burtner and Silverstone, Charlie of the mansion, and Delta will keep the cops off our backs. Any questions?"

Mary opened her mouth, but quickly shut it when Monforts unsettling eyes glanced to her. "Rookie, you'll be in team Charlie. Team leader is Demarev, so stick to his orders. Got it?"

The young woman nodded, not quite able to speak, and Monfort said: "Good. Move out!"

While the twelve agents split up, Mary walked over to the tall agent, who smirked. "Don't worry", he said with a voice which was probably meant to be comforting. "Once you've proven your worth, he'll accept you."

"I hope so", she sighed. Alice, the redheaded woman and third member of the team, laughed. "Trust me, he will. He always plays hard, but he's an alright guy. Quite surprising, considering his past."

Demarev frowned and warningly said "Alice", while Mary asked curiously "What's with his past?"

The bald man shot the redhead a warning glare, before turning to the younger woman and answering: "Chris has had a difficult past. Lot of fucked-up shit,  **which is not our story to tell.** " The last part of the sentence was said towards Alice, who simply rolled her eyes.

Mary swallowed down her question whether this had something to do with Monfort being fired from SHIELD seven years ago, and instead got into the black SUV waiting next to the runway, set for Arcadia Bay.


	5. Mourning & News report

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand once again I prove my own hopes to be wrong! Typical.   
> I'm really sorry about the sporadic updates, but I'll be taking my finals in less than two weeks and I've been incredibly busy with preparing for them (especially maths :/), so I wasn't really able to write recently.  
> That being said, I did continue my work on the Shared Universe: First of all, I finally completed the main storylines I want to include (I know I said that already, but I've been in a creative high recently, so I added in a few more). Currently, the SU counts 33 volumes (the number might still change in both directions, though). I also furthered the number of franchises included, by introducing Lara Croft to the series (her role will be a relatively small one, though).  
> Second, I designed a logo for this project: https://www.deviantart.com/tanishendran/art/Shared-Universe-792656369 It's not much to look at, but I feel like this gives the SU some sort of credence.   
> And of course, I had been planning this new chapter.

It still felt like yesterday to Max - well, technically, it had been today, but then, it wasn't really, so it did feel like it had happened a long time ago while still feeling like not too long ago - that she had gotten into Chloe's beat-up car, that they had driven to her home ('home, shit, home' had been her words, if Max remembered correctly), that she had taken the blame for some of Chloe's weed (one of the reasons David Madsen hadn't liked her in that other timeline) and that they had eventually driven here, to the junkyard. 

She sighed. All this timeline stuff was really, really giving her a headache, worse than the ones she had gotten when she had overused her rewind powers. But still, she knew she was missing  _something,_ something that was important, something that would explain all of... this. 

She had been caught so deep in her thoughts that she barely noticed the pick-up stopping and Chloe tipping her shoulder, saying "Your taxi has arrived, miss. That makes five times eating out the..."

"Ew! Chloe!", Max complained, completely startled, only to be followed by Chloe's roaring laughter. 

"Sorry, sorry", she yelped. "But you were so deep in your thoughts and I figured you might use some cheering up." "Yeah, but that was just... ew! Seriously?"

Chloe grinned. "Nah, four times will do t-OW! Alright, I'll stop." 

"Good", Max commented and released her fist. She couldn't hide a small smirk, though, as she got out of the car.

"Just so you know, though: You still curl up your lip when you're deep in thought", Chloe added, and Max simply  _knew_ that she was smiling. She opened her mouth to return something, but then realized she actually still did that. 'Holy shit, why didn't I notice that before?'.

She knew the answer, of course; these things were things she always did, they were normal to her. 'Until someone important points them out to you', she thought as she followed Chloe.

She didn't really realize where Chloe was headed until she saw the sign with the chicken on it, in one of the corners, partly hidden behind a pile of junk.

It was the spot that Nathan had buried Rachel in.

Some part of Max wondered just how Chloe knew that this was the spot; but mostly, her mind was set on sprinting towards her friend and trying to comfort her. 

When she finally got to Chloe (it hadn't taken her that long, but still, it once again felt like an eternity - was this what it felt like when one grows old?), she found her, kneeling and sniffing at a spot where someone had recently dug something; the soil had a slightly different colour than the rest of the area. 

Max wanted to say something; but she couldn't find the right words, and even if she had, she somehow doubted they would have worked. So instead, she just sat there, holding Chloe tight while she cried. 

Eventually, Chloe calmed down a bit, still sniffing, but able to speak again. "This... this used to be one of her favorite spots", she croaked. "Kinda fitting she'd be here, don't ya think?"

Max only nodded, still incappable of speaking. And so a few minutes passed, during which Chloe ran her hand through the soil and let it run through her fingers, as if she could touch Rachel again by doing that, as if she was close to her again.

Eventually, Max spoke up. "I thought that... that police would already be here by now."

Chloe shrugged. "Who cares? They'd simply... slander her. She deserves better." 

Max nodded, and they fell silent again. Chloe's face was hard to read, Max noticed, but she knew that the weels inside her were turning.

Only question was the matter of her thoughts.

After a while, Max asked: "Do you think we should... tell anyone?"

Chloe turned towards her. "Tell what?" "That she's here."

The blunette shook her head. "If Nathan tells'em, they'll find her anyway. And if he doesn't... fuck it. She didn't like the cemetary, but she fuckin' loved it out here." She looked up and nodded, as if to reassure herself. "She should stay here."

She got up and looked around the junk. Before Max could ask what she was doing, Chloe pulled out two wooden logs from the pile and some wire, walked back to the spot Rachel had been buried in and started working.

After a few minutes, Chloe was done and placed the crudely made cross behind the grave. She pulled out one of the 'MISSING'-posters, tore out the name section and birth date, reached into Max's bag, took out a pencil and scribbled something on the backside of the torn paper before putting it on a rusty nail and hitting it into the cross.

"So, that should do it", she said and stepped back for Max to see.

The crude cross wasn't standing straight, and the wire was standing a bit up. Rachel's name had been a little torn in; her 'death date' had been scribbled under her birth date, along with a short saying: 'Always in my heart.'

It was easily the most beautiful thing Max had ever seen.

Chloe wiped off her hands on her jeans and stood next to Max, looking at her handiwork. Her left hand was in her pocket, her right hand however was hanging down, and Max absentmindedly reached for it with her left hand. 

Chloe didn't pull away. And so they stood there, hand in hand, at the grave of a friend, and silently mourned.

* * *

 

The roadtrip to Arcadia Bay was for the most part silent - except for the radio which was playing some country songs. Mary was thankful for it, too.

She simply couldn't wrap her mind around Monfort: His personal file only covered his career within SHIELD and RAENA, only exception being a birth date, but no family, no past relationships, nothing. But his whole attitude, the way he always seemed on edge, it all indicated that he had made bad experiences in his past, something that had been confirmed by their teammates. 

She could easily understand why he wanted to keep it close to the chest, but it still had her wondering just who Monfort was. Who he  _really_ was.

Her thoughts were interrupted however, when the news segment came up and Demarev turned up the volume to listen in.

_"...attack on a sokovian border station was heavily condemned by the international community, however, Kashnia has made no attempts to put out an official statement, in spite of rumors that the country was in fact behind the bombing which killed almost fifty people, half of them civilians. It is now feared that this attack could rekindle the conflict between the two countries."_

Demarev snorted. "Fuckin' reds! Call the US imperialistic fascists and try to start a war to enlargen their territory!"

"One dictator's like the other", Alice commented from the back seat. "Plus, Sokovia did shoot a kashnian plane out of the sky." "Over sokovian territory!"

Mary couldn't help but roll her eyes. This entire conflict between the two neighboring eastern european countries was starting to get slightly annoying in her opinion. 'Why can't they simply sit down and talk about their problems instead of shooting around like idiots?'

She ignored the rising discussion between the other two and instead focused more on the news report which was now talking about a plane crash in Colorado. For some reason, Mary had the weird feeling that she knew about the cause for that plane crash, specifically, that the reason was two cars in front of her, where Monfort was driving.

This suspicion was confirmed when Alice chuckled at the report that 'the engines had apparently malfunctioned'. "Well, it ain't easy to work when you got a dozen bullets in ya!", she grinned.

Mary only rolled her eyes again. What the hell had she gotten into?


	6. Premonitions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, guess who's still alive!  
> Good news is that I finally passed my finals and am DONE with school (that is, until I get accepted into university). This means that updates MIGHT be more frequent (I'm saying might because I've never been good at keeping a schedule).  
> So, enjoy!

After what seemed like an eternity, Max and Chloe had left the grave. Chloe was still relatively silent, but Max found that she took it better than expected. Of course, she was fairly sure that it was only a charade, that Chloe was on the verge of breaking. But she also knew that she never would admit it willingly. She had always been 'the tough one' of the two, back when they had been kids, and more recently in the other timeline.

She would open up in time. Until then, Max would be there for her. 

She owed her that much.

They had gone a bit away from the yard, towards the train tracks, and performed  a balance act on the rails, similar to the one they had done the same day in the different timeline. The biggest difference was the fact that they did not talk about Frank. Instead, they talked about how their lifes had been ever since Max had moved away. About how Chloe had become friends with Rachel. About the memories Max had from Seattle, her friends there.

"By the way, you remember that mess in Seattle in 2011? With these Diaz kids?", Chloe asked. Max shuddered at the memory. "That shooting? It happened, like, two houses away from where I lived."

That caught Chloe's interest. "No fuckin' way. Really?"

"Yeah. I knew the family. Sean was even in my class at one point." Max remembered Sean quite well, in fact. Always a bit timid, always slightly annoyed at his little brother, but a great artist with the pencil. In fact, she still kept a few of his pictures in a drawer back in Seattle.

"Holy shit, that's crazy. You were friends?", Chloe asked. Max shrugged. "Not really. I mean, we got along quite well, and I have a few pictures he drew. But other than that, we rarely interacted with each other. Always thought he was a bit of a loner, to be honest."

"Aww, he drew you pictures", Chloe teased. "Did you take beautiful pictures of him, too?" Max chuckled at that. "I actually made a small collage for his 14th birthday, when we were classmates. That's it, though." 

"Sounds like you had a crush on him", the blunette kept teasing, and Max rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't. We were only classmates for a year, and even though we were almost neighbors, we never interacted much. Hell, even when we were on the same bus, we barely talked."

"Yeah, right, hipster", Chloe smirked before becoming serious again. "Do you think he could have actually done it?"

Max shook her head. "No. He was not a violent person at all. Neither was Esteban, for that matter. I don't believe one second that he threatened that officer who died."

"Oh, good, I'm not the only person who thinks that this case was a fuckin' cover-up", Chloe mumbled. The brunette nodded. "Tell me about it. After the shooting, these feds arrived at scene. Scared the hell out of me."

"Why?" "They seemed... dangerous. Like, not at all like government agents. More like a mix between hitmen and soldiers." Max wasn't lying, she still remembered the way these people looked, especially their leader. That guy had managed to give her the creeps simply by the way he  _moved,_ like he was always ready to draw the gun hidden underneath his jacket. She also remembered the two who had questioned her about Sean, the pale blonde woman with the cold eyes and the huge bald man with the red beard who barely spoke. She told Chloe as much.

"Man, that sucks. And I thought step-douche was an ass. At least he doesn't carry a gun", Chloe muttered when she layed down on the tracks. 

Max layed down on the other side, and for a moment, there was silence between them, as they looked to the sky, watched the birds fly over them. 'It is so peaceful', Max thought. And for a moment, she was able to forget everything else. Her powers, what she had experienced in that other timeline, Chloe's new powers... she simply enjoyed being here, with her best friend, with the person she... she loved, as she realized.

"Railroad tracks always make me feel better...", Chloe finally broke the silence, and Max tilted her head slightly towards her. "I have no idea why."

Max grinned as she answered the same way she had answered that other time they had been here. "Kerouac knew. It's the romance of travel and movement, the sound of the train whistle at night..."

Chloe chuckled as she playfully smacked Max's leg. "Look at the beat poet here."

This caused Max to chuckle, too, as she got up to take a picture of the sun shining on the junkyard and said: " I'd rather be a good photographer. And a good friend."

Chloe looked after Max as she walked towards a spot to take the picture. "You are a great photographer, Max. And you are a good friend." 

Max didn't reply, she was too focused on taking that picture. In that other time, she hadn't been able to take it, because of the tornado vision. This time however, she managed to capture it. 

It was at this point that things went downhill. 

"Max? I'm stuck!", Chloe called out to her. Knowing full well what would happen next, Max ran towards Chloe, telling her to hold on, to stay calm, tried to get her boot out of the space between the rail and the ground, but when she heard the train horn, she knew what to do.

Sh sprinted up to the small hut, grabbing the crowbar, forcing her way into the house, grabbing the plier and running towards the fuse box. At this point, however, she was in a bind: what cable did she need to cut again? 

She only needed a small while to remember; this moment of hesitation however, was too long, as she saw the train approach, and Max realized that her plan wouldn't work out in time.

In the other timeline, she had used her powers to slow down events, to give her enough time to figure it all out. This wasn't an option this time, however. Or was it?

Could she risk it? Could she use her powers, knowing full well what would happen if she did? Could she bare the thought of risking to destroy Arcadia Bay again?

Then, she heard Chloe's desperate pleas for help, and sighed. 'I'm sorry', she thought - or maybe even whispered - as she reached out and saw things become blurry, moving backwards. 

And then, all of the sudden, she was caught again. 

She felt cold, like she was trapped in ice, while flashes shot past her, pictures of strange symbols she had never even seen before, of strangely shaped... spaceships, and of a star cluster forming what looked like a golden hand, with six bright stars lighting it. And over all this, she heard a dark, rumbling, sinister voice, a voice which sounded like two rocks constantly colliding with each other, a voice which seemed  _old,_ say three words. 

_**"I SEE YOU."** _

This vision seemed to last an eternity, but when Max finally snapped out of it, screaming like she was being tortured, and after managing to calm herself, she noticed that she had indeed managed to turn back time to right before she had opened the fuse box.

Again, she forced it open, cut the red wire as fast as she could, then sprinted towards the lever and switched it, giving Chloe the chance to escape while the train tried to stop in time. 

This time, however, Max didn't run towards Chloe, but Chloe ran towards Max, who was kneeling next to the lever, holding her bleeding nose, still shaking. 

"Max? MAX? Answer me! Look at me! Fuck, simply _do something!_ _Snap out of it!"_  Chloe grabbed her shoulder's and shook the smaller girl, who then finally looked up.

Her face was the expression of pure, unconsealed terror.

* * *

On a viewpoint overlooking Arcadia Bay, all twelve members of RAENA STG 7, codenamed 'Red Jericho', were assembled, as they received their final instructions. Mary Broadwell was standing next to Alice, the cheerful redhead, and Demarev, who was in charge of the sub-unit she was in. They and and the other eight agents were circled around Chris Monfort, the CO of Jericho, while he was explaining how they should go on with the mission.

"...while we go after the two Alpha targets, Delta will disrupt power to the station, giving us a window. Only then, and I can't stress that enough, only then will Blue start--" Suddenly, Monfort cut himself off, causing the other eleven to exchange worried looks. 

"Boss?", Alice asked, while Radow, who was standing right next to Monfort, placed a hand on his shoulder, asking "Chris, what's wrong?"

Meanwhile, Monfort blinked wildly, a strange grimace on his face, as his hand slowly went down towards his hip, pushing back his jacket. Mary didn't understand. 'Is he going to shoot someone?'

She wasn't the only one having this kind of thought. Demarev next to her also reached for his gun, and Ying, the asian-american, was already one step further, with it being almost entirely out of the holster.

Then, all the sudden, Monfort seemingly snapped out of it again. His hand moved away from his gun, and he blinked again, calmer this time.

"Change of plans", he announced. "We best scout first. Eagle, Leopard, Shadow, get down there and check for possible advantages we can use. Take the rookie with you." 

Alice, Ying and the latino with the scar nodded and went towards one of the cars, with Alice gesturing for Mary to come along. The latter followed, still confused about Monfort's behaviour. It seemed like he had been daydreaming all of the sudden, and having a rather vivid nightmare at that.

Just what the hell was wrong with this man?

* * *

Only when the rest of Jericho had left, Chris relaxed on the outside. Inside, he was still shaking.

He knew all too well what had happened. He had experienced these blackouts, as he called them for simplicity, before, every time when someone had been changing the timeline in one way or another. However, these reactions had never been this heavy before, and never had he seen the pictures which he had seen now.

He knew it wasn't a coincidence. First, he had seen this girl in his dreams, and now, this sudden change in the timeline. She was here, he now knew that. 

But that didn't explain what he had experienced during the blackout; the pictures, the screams... and the voice, that still echoed in his mind, or the fact that he had seen a dead man, a man he had killed nearly four years ago, standing right in front of him, during the blackout, who talked with this very voice.

'Could they be connected?', he wondered. It would be a stretch, that much was certain. But then again, it wouldn't be the first time such a thing had happened. 

He then made his decision. He reached for his phone, opened a secure messenger and typed a message to Ana:  _Need to talk to u &Bear at the car. Now._

The reply didn't take long:  _Be there in 2._

Chris packed away his phone and went to his car. As he waited, he managed to calm himself further. Richter wasn't here, there wasn't even anything left of him anymore. Still, he heard the voice in his head, this dark voice, like two stones crushing against each other, talk to him, saying three words.

_**IT HAS BEGUN.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick explanation time:  
> I know that LiS 2 takes place after LiS, but in order for this series to work properly, I needed to move it to before LiS. I won't try to go into many details about what I changed in that regard, but the consequences of these events will be more important later in the series.


	7. Making sense?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, this actually is an update xD

"Alright Chris, spit it out", Ana said as soon as she and Demarev arrived at the meeting place. "What the hell just happened?"

There weren't many things that could have Anastasia Irinovna Radow (or Radowa, depending on who you asked) worried or even scared. But the way Monfort had just acted was more than enough of a reason for her to worry.

She had known him for a bit more than eight years now, ever since he had left SHIELD (voluntarily or not, she wasn't entirely sure) and joined RAENA. They had joined up the same year, and it had been something of a stroke of luck that she and him had ended up in the same squad. They were close, closer than teammates should normally be. Ana wasn't entirely sure whether what they had could actually be called a romantic relationship (especially since Chris wasn't much of a romantic, even though he did have his softer moments). She prefered to call it 'friends with benefits'. Nevertheless, she did have feelings that surpassed normal friendship, and she was fairly sure that it was the same with him.

She knew quite a bit about his past; why he had changed his last name, why he always took three days off in september every year, why he only returned to Texas, his home state, in this period of time voluntarily. She even knew a fair share about what kind of things he had done for SHIELD before he had left, and even about his 'special skills'. The only thing she did not know about was what had happened to him during that fateful mission to antarctica in early 2009 which had left Jericho decimated and Chris as the commander. But then again, none of the survivors of that mission liked to remember this particular carnage.

She couldn't help but think that his 'daydream' had something to do with what had happened then.

A quick glance to Viktor Demarev, the tall, quiet hungarian immigrant who still spoke with his native accent despite living in the states since the eighties, confirmed her thoughts that he shared that particular theory. That wasn't surprising; after all, Viktor had known both of them for as long as they'd known each other, and the only reason why Chris had named Ana his second-in-command was because Demarev claimed he simply wasn't leadership material. He too was a survivor of the antarctic mission. 

"Someone messed with the timeline", Chris said. That came as a surprise to both agents, and their faces showed it. 

"Are you certain?", Viktor asked, a concerned look on his face. The blonde man nodded. "It was a local event, just a small change probably, too. I probably wouldn't have noticed it under normal circumstances."

"If it was such a small change, then why the hell were you about to pull out a gun on us?", Ana asked, not buying this story for a second.

Usually, such a remark would have caused Chris to smirk mockingly, one of those small habits Ana loved and hated about him. Not today, though. His expression turned even more grim when he said: "Those were the circumstances I talked about."

He went on to explain what exactly had happened, and with each word, Ana saw Viktors face losing its color. Her own face probably was no different.

"How is this possible?", she finally asked after he had ended. Chris shrugged. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you. But what I do know however is that this change in the timeline has something to do with what we found in the ice, and that this girl is involved somehow." 

"That still doesn't make any sense", Demarev grumbled. "I for one don't think that this shift is connected to us getting slaughtered in 2009. The girl might be the culprit for the change, but for the massacre? Don't be stupid."

Ana silently winced. Viktor wasn't the kind of man who talked much, but when he did, he did not waste words. Between that and the fact that she knew about Chris's attitude, she already feared for a heated argument.

She was surprised, however. Chris simply shook his head and replied: "I'd agree with you if I hadn't seen Richter standing by the trees when I had this vision. There is some sort of connection there, I simply know it."

"But we don't", Ana said. "Though we could help you figure it out if you actually told us just what exactly had happened to Richard."

The moment she said these words, she regretted them. It was fairly obvious that whatever had happened to the former squad leader, Richard Richter, still haunted Chris. Whatever it had been, it had highly traumatized him, so much that it had been quite the surprise when he had actually returned to active duty three months after the mission. She didn't blame him for keeping it close to his chest; she still had nightmares about the beasts they had found in the ice desert, and she still vividly remembered the look on Chris's face when he too had finally returned. Based on that look, she had figured that whatever demons he carried with him since had to be far worse than what the rest of them had experienced.

On the other hand, it seemed like some of these demons took over now. If he actually believed to have seen Richter during this vision of his, standing by the trees...

Chris gave her a long look. "You know I can't talk about it, Ana. You'd probably think me to be crazy. Fuck, sometimes, I think that I am even crazier than I know. It's just... I still don't know for sure that all this had actually happened."

"All three of us still have these nice bites and scratches,  _pridurok"_ , Ana said. "Trust me, we can all to well confirm it had happened." 

"Not what I've seen,  _vozlyublennaya"_ , Chris replied, his pronounciation of the last word a complete mess, as usual (Ana had tried to teach him russian for fun, but about the only words he still remembered were various insults, 'please', 'thank you', 'yes', 'no', and 'darling', and he barely could pronounce these). "Not what I've seen." He sighed heavily and pulled out his cigarettes, lighting one of them. Ana didn't bother to interfere, she had tried to get him to quit in the past and it hadn't worked.

Plus, his healing factor prevented anything worse than the occasional cough from happening. 

Viktor opened his mouth again to say something, but was interrupted when David Ying appeared. "Boss, got a call from Kirby", he said. "Sounds urgent."

Monfort nodded, absentmindedly, and followed Ying, leaving Ana and Viktor behind.

The latter sighed when both men were out of sight and said: "I don't like this at all." 

Ana snorted. "That makes two of us. We better take care that he doesn't make anything stupid while we're here."

"Do you think this girl he talked about is... like him?", Viktor asked. The russian-american shrugged. "Honestly? I hope not. Because if she is, she's got a target on her back."

* * *

When Max finished her explanation, she was shaking so hard that Chloe had to carry her back to her truck. Once they were inside, the smaller girl immediately fell asleep, leaving it to Chloe to drive her back to her dorm.

She did not know what to make of it, to be honest. She had bought Max's explanation about her time travel (or rewind, whatever) powers, because, hell, she'd just been shot in the abdomen and survived with just a scar, which meant that she had healing powers.

'Huh, maybe mum will finally quit giving me shit about smoking. Can't get cancer now, I guess', she suddenly realized as she steered the truck.

It also kinda made sense that Max couldn't use (or wasn't supposed to use, rather) these powers again, because of stuff like timeline changes affecting the present and the future, and Chloe had seen enough time-travel-movies to get why that was bad.

But this vision Max had... that was something entirely else. On one hand, Chloe was kinda relieved that it wasn't a giant tornado coming to destroy Arcadia Bay. On the other one, that voice Max had heard, and this starcluster forming a gauntlet... It really scared the hell out of her.

She couldn't help but feel that this last picture, a golden gauntlet with six lights on the back of the hand, was supposed to be something she had to remember, something that she had already seen. But she was simply unable to guess where exactly she had seen it before. Maybe some online conspiracy theory?

Before Chloe could finish that line of thought, she had to break all the sudden when a black SUV materialized out of nowhere and shot across the crossing in front of her, causing her to hit the horn and yell at the driver "Hey, watch it, asshole!"

'Where the fuck did that guy make his license? In Egypt?'

A soft movement on the seat next to her caused Chloe to direct her attention towards Max, who yawned and stretched herself before asking: "Where am I?"

"In my truck, sleepy-Max", Chloe answered. "You fell asleep after telling me 'bout that stuff you'd seen, so I carried you back to the truck to take you to your dorm."

"Oh", Max blushed and lowered her eyes. It looked kinda cute, Chloe thought, and for a moment, she wondered just what else had happened in the other timeline that Max had left out. Because she knew that her friend had left out  **something.**

"Thanks. That was cool of you", she said. "Hey, no problem", Chloe replied. "You know me: your faithful companion and chauffeur."

Both girls laughed as she steered the truck onto the parking lot of Blackwell. When they got out and walked towards the dorm, they saw several students standing around, seemingly shocked about something, talking to each other. 

"...can't believe it, man..." "What the hell? Never thought..." "Man, I never thought he was that..." "Dude, did they just arrest him?" "First Nathan, now Jefferson?"

Max stopped dead in her tracks when hearing the last remark. Chloe turned around and went back for her. "What's wrong?"

"I think police just arrested Mark Jefferson", she answered.

'Jefferson? That sick fuck who twisted Nathan into the asshole who overdosed Rachel?' Chloe forced herself to, for once, keep a straight face, for Max's sake, so that she wouldn't lose it, after this vision. "Good fucking riddance", she finally said, every piece of disgust reeking her voice. 

"Max! MAX!" A small, blonde girl in a skirt, wearing, as Chloe saw when she got closer, a cross on a neclace, ran towards them. "You have to come! Quickly!"

Max quickened her step towards the girl. "What's wrong, Kate?", she asked worried. 

The girl - Kate - caught her breath before answering: "It's... it's Victoria. She... she tried to kill herself."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bam bam bam! Drama!  
> So... little poll: Do you people think Victoria will survive or not? Just drop your answer in the comments!


	8. timeline corrections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yup, the answer to Victorias chances is coming!   
> First though, I need to correct an oversight I accidentally made last chapter: I forgot to place the translations of the two russian words in the first part of the chapter. So, here you go:  
> pridurok: idiot  
> vozlyublennaya: lover  
> If there are any readers who speak russian, please do tell me if these translations are the correct ones, I used the Google translator for them, so there might be some mistakes.  
> But anyways, onwards!

While Kate led them to her room, Max's head was spinning as she listened her friend explaining what had happened after she'd left.

What Max had seen in the showers earlier hadn't been the only incident. Throughout the day, the entire academy had turned on Victoria, calling her names, spitting on her, some of the jocks even trying to beat her up. No one supported her; Taylor and Courtney were the ones leading the charge, especially the latter.

Naturally, Victoria had locked herself in her room, drowning her sorrows in alcohol. But things had escalated when she had been called to the principals office. There, she had found out that she was being kicked out of Blackwell for her behaviour.

Kate believed that this might have been the breaking point for her, that and the fact that upon returning to her room, she had discovered that it had been completely leveled, and even worse, that her parents seemingly had disowned her.

After that, Victoria probably had broken down completely, deciding to end her life. She had been on her way to the rooftop when she had also physically broken down on the stairs, sobbing uncontrolably. She had been like this when Kate had found her.

She hadn't needed to be a genius to figure out what was going on.

She had immediately made the call, and Victoria had been taken to the hospital. Around the same time, the police had showed up to arrest Jefferson, too, so luckily, very few people had seen the medics take Victoria away.

The rooftop. Max had hoped she wouldn't have to deal with a suicide attempt in this timeline. She was thankful it wasn't Kate this time around, but still... Once again she felt the sting of realization in her chest that not everything can be averted, that timelines always fix themselves.

It hurt to see that.

A quick glance towards Chloe told her that her friend had realized the same thing before redirecting her attention towards Kate. "How are you feeling?", Max asked, placing a hand on hers.

The blonde girl took a deep breath. "I... I don't know, Max", she answered, her voice trembling. "I can't stop thinking about the way Victoria looked at me. She was desperate for help, it was obvious, but... she still tried to push me away." She sniffed. "I can't stop thinking about what might have happened if I..." She stopped mid-sentence, shaking.

"But you were there", Chloe said, to everyone's surprise. The blunette hadn't said anything ever since they'd arrived in Kate's dorm room, being busy feeding a piece of letuce to Alice, but still listening. "You were there when she needed someone. You saved her life, and even though she's an ungrateful b-- person, I doubt she's gonna forget it so soon."

Kate barely noticed Chloe's little slip-up, too busy with collecting herself. And Max... Max once again felt the sting of guilt that she hadn't been there when someone else had needed her. 

There was something else, though. "Kate, why were you even in the stairway when you found Victoria?", she asked with concern in her voice.

Kate hesitated and looked at Chloe for a moment, something the blunette noticed with pulled-up eyebrows. "Why is she looking at me like this?", she asked Max, who only shrugged, not knowing what was going with Kate.

Then, finally, the blonde spoke up. "I... I know you'll probably think that I'm crazy, but... it was as if I could feel Victoria's pain." 

Max did a double-take. So did Chloe, for that matter. But whereas Max was at a loss for words, Chloe shook her head and grumbled: "The fuck is it with this city and fuckin' superpowers?"

Kate seemingly hadn't heard Chloe's comment, though. Instead, she carried on: "When she had that final breakdown... I could  _feel_ her suffering, as if she was crying it out to me. And when I found her..." Kate's voice broke. "You probably think I'm insane."

Max, finally finding her voice again, shook her head. "No, we don't. I think surprised might be the better word for it, though. But you're not crazy. At all."

Kate looked up at Max. "Are you serious?", she asked, a faint glimmer of hope in her voice. It was Chloe who answered. "Yup, we are. Hell, if you thought you were crazy, just wait til you hear out Max."

The brunette rolled her eyes. 'Way to go, Chloe', she thought, while Kate directed her attention towards Max. "What does she mean?", the small girl asked, clearly confused.

Max took a deep breath and told Kate the same story she had told Chloe (minus one or two more gruesome details, such as just what exactly Nathan and Jefferson had done in the Dark Room, or Kate's own suicide attempt). With every word, Kate's eyes grew bigger and bigger, but surprisingly, she didn't immediately call her crazy or something similar. 

(Though that might have been because if she had done so, it would paint her as crazy, too. Then again, Kate hadn't ruled out that option for herself.)

When Max had finished, Kate was silent. A few minutes passed in this state, minutes during which Max wondered just how Kate would react. Would she tell her off? Would she end up calling her a lunatic? She couldn't really see Kate doing either of these things, but on the other hand, this day had been full of mostly negative surprises.

Then, the blonde finally spoke up. "This... this is incredible, Max. You can actually control  _time?"_

Max nodded, somewhat relieved that her friend didn't seen to think her a freak (even though she knew that would be unlike Kate). "To a certain degree, yes. But when I overuse it, it starts to... hurt. A lot."

Kate shook her head, still amazed. "Even so, this is... you might be the most powerful person in the world right now." 

Max opened her mouth to disagree, to say that there were plenty of people who were more powerful than her, when Chloe sided with Kate. "She ain't wrong. When you can twist time 'round your pinky finger, there's nothing that can stop you."

"Except the laws of time", Max said. "Chloe, you know this power is dangerous. Last time, I nearly destroyed Arcadia Bay with it. This time..." She broke herself off, but Kate, clearly interested in it all, asked: "What'll happen this time?"

"I don't know", Max replied. "That's what worries me." She went on to describe the vision she had when saving Chloe again in great detail, leaving nothing out. Kate grew more and more uncomfortable with every word, and when Max told her about the part with the voice, the blonde's face lost all color.

"Max... I- I know you're an atheist, but this... this reminds me of the tales my mom used to tell me about people being possessed by the devil", she stuttered, clearly terrified. 

"Yeah, we already figured that voice meant trouble", Chloe jested. "But the horned guy himself? C'mon, this sounds way too fucked."

This comment didn't sit too well with Kate, and Max silently called herself an idiot for having Kate, the one person who still went around chastising people for swearing too much, and Chloe, who was definitely among the most foul-mouthed people she knew, in one room together.

"I said it reminds me of him", she grumbled, pouting. "I didn't say it was him. But still, the similarities are there." 

Chloe opened her mouth to say something when a phone started ringing. The three girls looked at each other before Chloe winced. "I, uh, think it's mine", she said. "I'll be back in a second."

On the way out, she pulled her phone und muttered something that Max couldn't understand as she looked after her. 'I wonder who's calling her?'

"So", a fairly amused Kate then pulled the brunette back into reality, "just what exactly is going between the two of you?"

This question caught Max off-guard. "Wha... what do you mean?"

Kate grinned. "I've seen the way you look at her. You two certainly seem close to each other. So, would you mind giving me some details?"

Max shrugged. "There isn't much to say, honestly. Chloe was my best friend when we grew up. But then I left for Seattle shortly after her father had died, and... I accidentaly broke off contact. And now I'm back here and..."

"And you feel like you've let her down", Kate finished the sentence. "Like you don't deserve to be her friend anymore." 

"Exactly", Max whispered, somewhat taken aback that Kate had looked right through her. 

The latter placed her hand on Max's and said: "What you did wasn't nice for her. But she does not hold it against you, that much I can tell."

"How do you know?", Max asked, and Kate replied: "Chloe strikes me as a very... straightforward person. I think that if she still was really upset about it, she wouldn't have been here with you. And I've seen the way she's been looking at you when she thought no one else looked. She cares for you, deeply. And I'm guessing you may care for her, too", she finished with a smirk. 

Max was taken aback. "How... how did you know all this?"

"I watched the two of you interact. Between this and my... my gift... I've got a fairly good idea that she feels the same way about you that you feel about her." Kate lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry if I somehow invaded your privacy, Max."

The brunette shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. I'm just... I'm surprised that you've looked through me so easily. And through her, I mean, you've just met." 

"Sometimes one meeting is all it takes", Kate smiled. "Do you want some tea?"

* * *

Choe didn't answer the phone until she was outside the building. The crowd from earlier had disperced, so barely anyone was out there to listen. 

"Hey mom. What's up?", she asked.

_"Chloe, where are you?"_ Joyce sounded incredibly worried for some reason, and Chloe just couldn't fathom why.

"I'm at Max's dorm. We were visiting a friend. Why you asking? Is everything alright?"

_"Oh, thank... there's been an accident near the junkyard. Someone crashed their truck into a tree and police didn't find out until an hour ago. I've been trying to reach you forever!"_

The blunette winced. 'That sure explains a lot.' "Shit... I'm sorry, mom. I forgot my phone in my truck earlier."

_"Just... return my calls next time, ok?"_ "Yeah, sure thing, mom. So, how was your day?" 

Chloe was really hoping that talking to her mom about something else than herself could take her mind off things like the fact that this friend of Max, Kate, seemed to have superpowers too, this entire story with the visions Max had endured, and of course this whole mess about how Chloe was feeling about Max.

She wasn't entirely sure when and how it had all started. She still remembered that when the two of them had still been kids, she had asked her dad whether she could marry whoever she wanted once she grew up, and that when he had confirmed it, that she wanted to marry Max. But she had barely been ten years old back then, so it couldn't be when she had first developed feelings for Max.

Could it?

It had scared her, when Max had finally stepped back into her life, in that bathroom yesterday, even more than the fact that not only did Chloe have superpowers, but also that Max had somehow already gone through this week due to her own powers. Chloe had been scared because initally, she didn't know what to think, and even worse, that she didn't know what Max would think of her now.

She was aware that she was a fuckin' mess. Between still not entirely over her dad's death, her problems with step-ass and Rachel's disappearance, she wouldn't have been surprised if Max had simply turned her back on her again. But she hadn't. And it scared Chloe.

She knew that Max still cared for her, obviously. Hell, she even understood why they had parted ways in the first place. It would be wrong if Chloe said that if their places were switched, she might have acted in a similar fashion. Even so, it still hurt, but not as much as it used to. Max still beat herself up over it, as it seemed.

But that didn't change her feelings for Max, feelings she had previously only ever harbored for Rachel, and even those hadn't been quite as strong. Where Rachel had been fiery, Max was more level-headed, a stark contrast to Chloe. And yet, Chloe saw herself more with Max than she'd ever seen herself with Rachel.

'Bah, what do I know', Chloe pushed these thoughts away. 'I don't even know if Max is into girls.'

Her mom's voice pulled her out of her speculations about Max entirely.  _"Busy, as usual. A bunch of truckers broke some of the mugs, and there were a few customers who kinda gave me the creeps, but other than that, it was fine."_

"Which customers were creepy?", Chloe asked. She liked her mom, and even though she barely showed it nowadays, teasing her endlessly, if anyone ended up doing something stupid, she'd give them hell.

_"Two men and a woman, seemed to be a group. Weren't from here, though. And they didn't do anything, they simply seemed... shady"_ , Joyce quickly said.

"U-huh. You sure, mom?"  _"Yes, I'm sure, Chloe. You can calm down again."_ Even though Chloe didn't see her, she knew that her mom was rolling her eyes right now.

_"When are you going to be home again?"_ Chloe thought about it for a moment. "Not sure yet. I might stay at Max's room for the night."

_"Alright, but please take care of yourself"_ , Joyce said. Now it was Chloe's turn to roll her eyes. "Mom, I'm not a baby anymore. Besides, you know me."  _"Exactly. See you tomorrow, then."_

With these words, Joyce hung up and Chloe decided to go back into the girl's dorm.

 

 


	9. Dealing with it

[Arcadia Bay Police Department]

 

It was a dark, starless night over Arcadia Bay. A superstitious person would probably have said that this meant trouble, but Officer Berry was anything but superstitious. 

Life had been quite shitty for him recently; first, Nathan Prescott was arrested for trying to shoot a girl and was now sitting in one of the holding cells at the department, then, Sean Prescott died in a plane crash, and even worse, the department was starting to ask questions about Berry's connection to the family (which may be the worst part of it, because if they found anything, he'd be fired, judged, found guilty and sent to jail).

Then there was the fact that he did not only have to deal with these troubles, but that by now, a few new problems had come up, too. First, this black SUV hit a deer and then vanished, only to later crash into a tree with the passengers fleeing; the rumors of armed people walking around Arcadia Bay, taking pictures, and the report that a suicidal punk had nearly caused a train crash not far from the junkyard, which only did not happen because said punk had changed her mind last second and jumped off the rails.

So, overall, Berry pretty much hated his life right now. And it didn't come as much of a surprise when the lights suddenly went out, leaving the department in complete darkness. 'Great', he thought to himself. 'Just my luck. And of course, I'm the only officer on duty right now.'

He got up from his chair and started walking towards the fuse box when he heard an earpiercing scream coming from the cells. 

A scream coming from the mouth of Nathan Prescott.

Berry silently cursed and sprinted towards the cells, but he was too late. By the time he arrived, Nathan was a shaking and screaming mess, trying to claw Berry through the bars. 

"Damn it, Nathan, it's me, Berry! Calm down!", the officer said while extending a hand at the raging boy, but then quickly pulling it back when Nathan tried to  _bite_ it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?", he asked more to himself, clearly shocked. 

"Oh, he simply unleashed his inner beast", a female voice said behind him. "With a little help on my part, that is."

Berry turned around, about to ask who the hell this woman was and how she had gotten in here, but all he managed to say was "Wha--", before the woman hit him in the face with a baton, knocking him out cold.

* * *

Ana Radow smirked to herself as she watched the officer fall to the ground. She dropped the baton next to him and looked at the raging Nathan, who returned the gaze with wild, animalistic eyes. There was no sanity left in the boy, that much was clear.

'Mission acomplished', she thought before placing the injector in the hand of the unconcious officer, making sure that his fingerprints were on them. She then moved the body in a way that would make it look like he had been knocked out by the now insane Nathan.

Once she was done, she made her way to the exit, wiping the baton clean on the way and deposing it on the desk. 

One target down.

* * *

[Blackwell Academy]

Had anyone been out on the parking lot, they would have noticed several things: first, the rusty pick-up truck owned by Chloe Price was still standing on the lot, meaning she had decided to spend the night there. Second, a black SUV with toned, mirrored windows, lacking a licence plate, stood right next to it, a car which no one in Arcadia Bay owned and which no one had seen before.

Similarely, had someone been on the Academy ground, they probably would spotted a dark figure hurrying across the yard towards the building which was currently inhabited by Mark Jefferson.

Said teacher was asleep when the figure entered through a window, having already disabled the alarms and making his way up to the bedroom, believing nobody had heard him.

He was wrong. 

Jefferson was an easy sleeper by habit, and this had only gotten worse ever since his protegé had been arrested. He now always slept with a handgun by his side, with plans to use it if need be. And naturally, he had heard the figure entering his house.

So when said person entered the bedroom, Jefferson was ready and pulled the trigger once. There was no sound; the teacher had made sure to use a silencer barrel. The bullet hit the figure in the chest, and it let out a pained groan as Jefferson turned on the lights and pulled back the mask the assassin was wearing. Underneath it, the fairly handsome face of a man in his thirties was hidden, with blond hair, a mustache and goatee, and one blue and one green eye, the mouth, which usually sported a mocking smirk, now a grimace of pain.

"I am not impressed", Jefferson said. "I am however quite curious: did Sean Prescott send you to kill me?"

Christian Monfort snorted. "Prescott senior is dead, and his idiot son will be a case for the shrinks by now." He then got up and hit Jefferson in the abdomen, causing the teacher to drop the gun into Monforts waiting hand who then pointed it at Jefferson's head while said teacher now groaned in pain.

"You know, two things I hate more than anything are teachers and psychopaths. Which means that  **you** , my friend, are so dead." Those were the last words Mark Jefferson heard before Monfort pulled the trigger and shot the teacher in the head. He then placed the gun in Jeffersons hand, making it seem like he had commited suicide. Which wouldn't be a stretch considering the pictures he kept in his desk.

Monfort however wasn't done just yet. When he left Jefferson's place, he didn't go towards the parking lot, but instead, turned towards the main building. 

In there, he walked towards the principal's office, shooting out the lock, which in turn caused the alarms to sound. 'Huh, I thought those were connected to the cameras', he wondered as he walked into the office, quickly rewinding time to the point at which the door was still locked. The only difference now was that he was inside the office.

He walked towards the cases containing the student files and found the lock almost too easy to pick. While he went through the files, he absentmindedly rubbed his chest. The wound which Jefferson had struck had healed almost immediately, a benefit of him using his factor so often, but it still pained quite nastily.

That pain however quickly dispeared when he found the file he had been looking for. He recognized the picture the second he saw it, he had seen it in his dreams for years now. And now, at last, this spectre that haunted him had a name.

_Maxine Caulfield._

* * *

Max couldn't sleep. As much as she tried, every time she closed her eyes, she saw the cluster forming a hand, the strange symbols, and felt the cold with the voice echoing in her mind. 

It was driving her mad. 

She must have shifted in her attempts to sleep, because the next thing she knew, Chloe was beside her, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Can't sleep?", she asked.

Max nodded. "Every time I close my eyes... I'm back in this vision. I can't see it anymore, Chloe. I simply can't."

"Hey...", Chloe got up and pushed herself onto Max's bed. "It'll be alright. Just close your eyes and listen to my voice, 'kay?"

Max nodded weakly and followed Chloe's instructions. And it worked; the pictures were still there, but they were less focused, and the cold feeling and the dark voice were replaced by the warmth of Chloe's body and her soft voice.

In the end, Max did find some sleep.

 


	10. Wakey, wakey....

The first thing that Max felt upon waking up was warmth besides her. She turned around in her bed, wondering for a short while why there was so little space in it, only to find Chloe grinning at her. 

"Good morning, sleepy-Max", the blunette greeted her. Said girl yawned as she mumbled a good morning, still feeling sleepy. "Wha' happen'd las' night?", she asked.

"Short version? You had nightmares 'bout that fucked up vision of yours, I swooped in to save the day, and we had  _a lot_ of fu--" "Chloe!"

Max was entirely awake by now, feeling somewhat embarassed by her friend's words, but also... turned on? She blushed hard, which only increased as Chloe laughed.

"Relax, I'm messing with you. We didn't do anything other than cuddle in our undies", she explained, and Max relaxed a bit. Still, she did feel somewhat let down. 

Chloe must have noticed this and grinned. "Of course, we  **could** always get more frisky..."

Once again, Max blushed hard and mumbled something about thin walls and not wanting to disturb the others, to which Chloe pouted and called her a killjoy before crawling out of Max's bed and slipping back into her pants and shoes. Max soon followed, shaking off the last bits of sleep and taking a t-shirt and a jeans from her closet.

While she got dressed, she saw Chloe snooping around her room from the corner of her eyes, looking at drawers and eventually finding the old album Max kept. "Holy shit, I didn't know you still had this one", the blunette exclaimed and walked back towards Max's bed, sitting down on the edge. 

"Of course I still do", Max replied with a smile. "Why wouldn't I?"

A short, uneasy silence followed as both remembered how Max had dropped out of contact for five years, before Chloe smirked.

"Wanna add a few new ones?", she asked. Max beamed up immediately. "Great idea! Only gotta find my camera..."

It took her a few minutes to do so (it hadn't been in her bag, as it usually was, but apparently she had placed it on her desk for some reason), and when she had found it, she went back to her bed, sitting down next to the blunette. "Say 'cheese'", she joked.

"Sausage", Chloe grinned, causing Max to laugh as she pressed the button. The polaroid slipped out almost immediately, depicting a laughing Max and a grinning Chloe, who pointed bunny-ears at her friend.

"Seriously?", she asked. The blue-haired simply laughed. "What? It looks great."

That, Max could not debate, so she simply rolled her eyes and placed the picture on her bed. 

They stayed on the bed for a little longer, talking about all sorts of things. During this time, Max found herself staring at Chloe more than once and marveling at how beautiful she looked: how the sunlight made her blue eyes sparkle a bit; how it aligned perfectly with her blue hair; how artistically done her tattoo was... 

It in some way seemed to Max as if she was seeing her for the first time, even though it wasn't. Her thoughts drifted away again, back to the other timeline, to the game of dare they had played in Chloe's bedroom, and then to their farewell on the cliff. Both times, they had kissed, and both times, Max had felt as if butterflies were flying around in her stomach.

As if on a hidden signal, said stomach started growling, and Max realized she hadn't really had a meal in a while.

"Looks like someone is hungry", Chloe grinned. "Diner?" "Diner", Max confirmed and got up from the bed. 

During their walk to Chloe's truck, they kept talking, barely keeping focus on their surroundings, and thus not noticing that right next to Chloe's car, several tracks indicated that someone had not only stood there, but also made a fairly quick exit. 

And thus, neither of them noticed the small droplets of dried blood beside the tracks.

* * *

[Jericho-camp]

Ana dreamt that she was in hell.

She knew the dark, cold, metallic surroundings only all too well, they had hounded her for years now. And she also knew what this low growl, that slowly grew louder while circling around her, was (well, actually, she didn't, but she had seen the beasts that made it). 

She knew what would come next, but before the creature could jump her, she felt someone poking her, waking her up. She did not hesitate; the moment she opened her eyes and saw the culprit, she threw a punch in his face while reaching for her gun, pointing it at him.

"I love it when you show off your reflexes like that", Chris Monfort said, sporting his usual mocking smirk while rubbing his jaw.

Ana relaxed and lowered her weapon. "I really hoped I'd wiped that off", she said, slightly annoyed. The smirk only widened.

She sighed. "Do you always have to wake me up like that?", she asked. Chris shrugged. "Tried waking you up the normal way. Didn't work." His smile vanished. "Bad dream?"

"Bad memory", Ana explained while reaching for a clean t-shirt. Even though she had turned her back on Chris, she simply knew the guy was stripping her with his eyes. Not that she really minded. After all, he had seen pretty much every part of her body, clothed and unclothed.

"Viktor already left?", she asked while slipping into her t-shirt, a plain white one. Chris nodded. "They're on the way to the Prescott home right now. Not really much to do around here till they get back." He stretched himself. "What'ya say 'bout getting some breakfast?"

Only now did Ana notice that Chris wasn't wearing his pre-mission gear. Instead, he wore dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt with the logo of some heavy-metal-band on it, his favorite leather jacket and cowboy boots (however the hell he had gotten them here). He had placed his aviators in the collar of his shirt, which also concealed both gun and badge (and, knowing Chris, he also had at least one knife in one of his boots). 

"Not on duty today?", Ana asked, and he nodded. "Yeah, well, I figured we could take a day off. And since I'm the ranking guy 'round here..." 

Ana rolled her eyes and mumbled something sounding a lot like "smartass" before admitting that breakfast  **did** sound pretty good. 

"Alright, meet me at the car then", Chris said before adding with (yet another) smirk: "And you may wanna put on some pants." And then he gave her ass a playful smack.

Ana already opened her mouth asking what the hell he meant, but then realized that she had been in fact standing around only in a t-shirt and her underwear. Luckily for him, Chris had already bailed out before she could reach for her pistol again.

'That horny, handsome asshole...'

 


	11. ...depresion and crazy!

It took Ana a few minutes to start to regret stepping into a car with Chris (which was impressive, because usually it took only a few seconds). 

The reason for this regret wasn't the fact that Chris rarely cared about things like speed limits, or that whenever they were in his car, there was always a faint scent of tobacco in the air. It wasn't even that he, for some reason, always had  **all** the windows open, which wouldn't have been that much of a problem if it hadn't been, again, for the fact that he was always driving  **at least** 8 miles over the speed limit and thus, the wind was always blowing around Ana, ruining her hairstyle (she hadn't even known that you could ruin short hairstyles, like she sported them, but driving with that asshole had taught her).

No, the problem was the music.

Ana enjoyed most kinds of music: she absolutely loved Rock'n Roll, enjoyed most pop and country songs, had a fairly big soft spot for classical music and could even tolerate rap and hip-hop. After she and Chris had gotten closer, she had even developed a taste for symphonic metal, even though she rarely listened to it on her own.

But the one kind of music she could barely stand  _at all_ was heavy metal, especially power metal. Unfortunately for her, that just so happened to be Chris' favorite kind of music. 

And thus, there she was, sitting on the passenger seat, listening to some heavy metal singer yell something about raising fists in the air and Chris yelling the refrain and trying (and failing) to tap the rhythm on the steering wheel and trying really,  _really_ hard not to murder her superior/lover.

"I'll never understand how you can listen to this", she mumbled. Chris (surprisingly) grinned at her and shot back: "And I'll never understand how you can't. I mean, rock and metal aren't that different."

"They're different enough for me to like the former and dislike the latter", she answered and rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. "Look, can you do me just this one favor and turn on something different?"

Chris studied her face for a while, then shrugged and paused the song. "What would you prefer?"

"I don't care. As long as it isn't metal."

Once again, her friend shrugged and then went on to scroll through his playlist, eventually stopping at a country song. Ana sighed in relief before again rolling her eyes (though not in disdain, but playfully) when she recognized the familiar tune of the Bellamy Brothers.

"Jalapeños? Seriously?", she asked. Chris laughed. "What? There is a true core to that song. To both versions." That, Ana could not dispute, and she chuckled. "Texans..."

"First of all, those guys are from Florida. Second, I'm just a heterosexual..." "Heterosexual, white boy methodist", Ana completed the vers, unable to hold back her laughter anymore. 

Chris too laughed. "Eh, that last part doesn't fit. I haven't been to church in years. Pretty sure I count as an atheist by now." 

Ana shrugged. "So what? You still are an asshole to most people." "I'm not the asshole, they just don't like me", he replied. "I wonder why?", she joked as the next song by the band, 'Boobs', started playing. 

Now, it was his turn to roll his eyes, even though Ana couldn't see it behind his glasses, but she knew him well enough by now to know these things. "Now who's the asshole?", he mumbled. 

"Yeah, love you too", Ana said absentmindedly as she was trying not to laugh about the lyrics of the song. She only noticed Chris' funny glance at her a few seconds later, and only then realized what she had said. 

Suddenly, Chris turned off the engine. "We've arrived", he said before getting out of the car. Ana sighed. "Shit", she cursed and got out herself and followed him into the 'Two Whales'. 

* * *

"Hey, can I ask you a maybe-bad question?"

Max looked up at Chloe and raised an eyebrow. The blue-haired had a serious look in her eyes, which was pretty unusual for her. "Why would it be 'maybe-bad'?", she returned the question. "Cos it's about your time powers."

The brunette put down her fork and sighed. "Go ahead."

"I know you said you won't use it anymore, but... is there a possibility that you could go back, say, five years or so?"

Max understood what Chloe was getting at and sighed. "You want me to save your dad", she said. Chloe looked down on her plate. "Yeah."

Max sighed, once again, and looked out the window. Arcadia Bay was fairly busy right now; quite a few cars were on the road, some of them stopping at the 'Two Whales', like a black SUV, which parked pretty badly. 'That guy's lucky no cops are here', she thought.

"I actually did", Max began. "And I... I managed to make William take the bus. But..."

"Let me guess: the bus drove off a cliff or something", Chloe said and mumbled a curse. Max shook her head. "No, not at all. He made it back alright."

"Then what happened?" Max opened her mouth, but the words wouldn't come out. That was one the memories she'd prefer to forget, seeing Chloe in that wheelchair, unable to move, to do anything, to see how the entire family suffered, struggled to pay for her treatments... and how Chloe wanted her to kill her.

"He... he gifted you a car for a birthday. A pick-up truck, like yours, but a newer model. And then...", her voice struggled and failed. She didn't notice the tears at first, until Chloe leaned forward and wiped them away.

"I had an accident?", she whispered. Max nodded, still unable to speak. When her voice finally returned, she said: "You survived, but... you were paralized from the neck down. Couldn't eat, couldn't move, hell, you even needed an ventilator to fuckin' breathe."

Now it was Chloe's turn to sit in a stunned silence while Max continued. "Your parents were covered in debts because they needed to pay for your treatments. Your mom had taken up a second job, working for the Prescotts, but it wasn't enough. And when I finally showed up, after making sure that William had lived, and saw you like that..." At this point, her voice broke down again. 

"Fuck", Chloe mumbled and took Max's hand. "That wasn't even the worst part, though", she then managed to continue. "When we were alone in... in your room there, you wanted me to... to..."

"To do what?" Chloe gripped her hand hard, so hard that it hurt, but Max didn't care. She took a few deep breaths, trying to cool her emotions, before saying: "You... that other you had said that the respiratory system keeping... keeping you alive was starting to fail. That you were only waiting out the inevitable and didn't want to suffer anymore, didn't want to see your parents suffer anymore. You told me to... to do something to the system, to turn it up, that you'd simply... drift off to sleep." 

By now, Max felt as if Chloe would break her hand, but she didn't really care. In a way she felt like she deserved the pain, both physical and mental.

"I did it. I'm... I'm not proud, but I... I saw how you suffered. So I did what you... you asked of me. I... I'm really sorry." 

Max couldn't look Chloe in the eyes during this confession. How could she? She wasn't different than Jefferson and Nathan, she realized. She too had blood, innocent blood, on her hands, Chloe's, Joyce's, Warren's, Kate's, Alyssa's, Dana's, Juliet's, Trevor's, heck, the entire city's. All because she wanted to play around with her nwe powers.

She didn't see Chloe stand up at first. When she did, she assumed that her friend was about to leave, to walk through a door and never come back, like she herself had done five years ago.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

Chloe didn't leave. Instead, she sat down next to Max and pulled her into a hug. She whispered: "Max, you have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing at all."

"How can you say that?", Max sniffed. "I  _killed you_. First I leave you for five years, then I show up again, expect everything to be normal again, and then I kill you, watch you die, let you die, nearly destroy the entire city... and for what? Because I was  _dumb_ and played around with powers I didn't even understand!" She shook her head. "I'm a monster."

Chloe placed her hand on her cheek and slowly stroked it. "Listen, Max: the mere fact that you feel bad about shitty things you couldn't understand would happen makes you the complete opposite of a monster. Just think about it: you had no idea your powers and the tornado were connected, you literally went back in time to save my sorry ass **and** the city. And as far as I'm concerned, if you sacrificed me for the good of the world or to stop my suffering... it doesn't make you a murderer in my eyes." 

"But what then? Chloe, how can I claim to be your friend if I've made such decisions? If all I do is hurt you?"

"That's what friends do sometimes. Sometimes, it's not just unicorns puking rainbows in Disneyland. Sometimes, friends hurt each other, say bad things, do bad things. For fucks sake, I've been there way more often than I'd have liked. The important thing is that they talk about these things and that they feel sorry about them. And personally? I think that you have nothing to be sorry for any more." 

Max sniffed, and Chloe carried on: "I'll admit, I was really pissed when you'd left. For a time, I thought I hated you. But then, after you beat up Pisscock in that bathroom... I realized I never did. And when you promised to never do it again, I believed you. Heck, yesterday was easily the best day of my life. And you wanna know why?" Chloe didn't wait for Max to answer, instead jumping to her own conclusion: "Because I spent it with  **you**."

* * *

Joyce watched from afar as Chloe and Max were talking. She wasn't an idiot, she knew that the two had a lot to talk about, between the five years they'd spent apart.

She wasn't mad at Max for it. She knew all too well how hard it had been after William's death, and that neither of the girls had really known how to deal with it. She didn't really blame Max for simply taking off, and neither did Chloe, of that she was certain. 

But when Max had started crying in the diner... Joyce had already started to move towards her before even realizing what had happened, and had only stopped in her tracks because her daughter had signaled her that she had this in hand. 

She hid a smile. Chloe had been difficult these past few years, but after what had happened on monday, Joyce had a hard time being mad at her for pretty much anything. Everything she had said to Chloe, all the 'bad' things... she nearly had lost the chance to tell her daughter how much she loved her. 

"Joyce? Can you take table 9?", a coworker asked, and she nodded. 'Back to work it is', she thought.

"What can I get you two?", she asked the two persons, a man and a woman, sitting at the table.

She'd never seen them before, that much she knew. They were both in their thirties by their looks. The woman was quite pale, had light blonde hair which she carried fairly short, grey eyes which seemed to be extremely cold and stayed that way when she smiled and ordered eggs, bacon and coffee for herself. Joyce could barely surpress a shudder when she saw that. She'd never seen such emotionless eyes before.

The man however seemed even more off. His skin was slightly tanned, and his hair was more golden than hers, with a well-groomed mustache and goatee in his face. He was quite handsome, Joyce had to admit, the only turn-off being his strange eyes, the left one emerald green and the right one shining blue. His tattoos however...

When Chloe had come home with her tattoos, Joyce had been scandalized, and David had started yelling at his stepdaughter because of them. Over time, both had started to accept and even grow used to them. This guy however made Chloe's body art look like nothing.

On his right arm, he had a partly dismembered skeleton grinning at Joyce while holding up the solely remaining limb, a right hand, forming a fist, with the pinky finger and the index finger standing up. A female name was tattooed onto his lower right arm, with rose thornes crawling around it, circling the arm. On his left arm, a giant red snake crawled down from his shoulder, the head being on his lower left arm. Out of it (or so it seemed), came a skeletal hand which was inked onto his actual hand in great detail, the knuckles being highlighted white. She also spotted wings on his neck, which made her guess that he had some sort of bird tattooed onto his back.

He also had quite a few scars. Most of them were simetrical, going down in a straight line on his lower arms, for the most part covered by the various artworks. Really, the one that stood out to her was a big, round scar on the back of his left hand, which had seemingly blasted a hole in the tattooed hand, as the area there wasn't inked. Joyce shuddered upon seeing that. 

He ordered the same as the woman, speaking with a slight southern accent, with a similar smile, which, altough it reached his eyes, looked somewhat wolfish. Joyce was glad when she got away from these two, and only stopped by shortly to bring the food. 

She had a really bad feeling about them.

* * *

When the waitress had brought their orders and left, Ana finally said something. "I know you want to talk about earlier, so go ahead."

Chris sighed. He really didn't want to do so, but at the same time, he wanted, he  _needed._ It was a feeling he hadn't felt in years, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

"What you said before we arrived", he began. "Did you mean it?"

His lover shrugged. "What if I did?", she asked. "Ana, this is no joking matter", Chris said in return. "If it simply slipped out accidentally, and you didn't mean anything by it, it's fine. Then just say so."

"And what if I did mean it?", she asked again. "Would it make a difference to you?"

Chris groaned and instead of answering took a sip of his coffee. The truth was, he did feel more for Ana than just friendship, or even their friendship with benefits. The russian-american was an attractive woman, even with the scars she covered with her shirts, and he had really grown to like her in the years since they knew each other.

But love? He barely knew how this feeling felt, yet alone experienced it. His previous relationships, both during his time with SHIELD and with RAENA, had all failed, partly because he simply wasn't the kind of guy a woman liked to stay with. That was partly the reason why he had barely made any effort in that direction, and only maintained a loose sex-only relationship with Ana outside their usual friendship. 

And yet...

"You know how bad I am at these things", he said after finishing his coffee. She snorted. "Yeah, but that's partly because most girls you were with were fuckin' tramps. Look, I get that you don't like letting people in. You know that I know that feeling, too."

He scoffed. "I let you in", he reminded her, and she nodded. "Because we've been through similar sorts of bullshit. But I try to leave it behind me. You however..." 

Chris shook his head. "You ever tried to leave something behind when you know that you can change it? That you can literally turn back time to fix it?"

"No, but I don't have this power", Ana said, placing her hand on his. "You can't always let your past guide your future. This only brings more pain." 

"I can take pain", Chris said. "But others can't", Ana sighed. "Look, I..."

In that moment, their phones started buzzing. Ana reached hers first and answered it. "It's Viktor", she said after a brief conversation. "Looks like there are some problems at the estate." 

Chris sighed. "Is it too much to ask for one quite operation?", he mumbled and got up. Ana laughed. "You know it is."

They walked towards the door, Chris being deep in thought about what Ana had said. He knew what was doing was most likely wrong. But it was all that he had left. He'd given Grace a promise, and he wasn't going to break it.

He was rudely pulled out of his thoughts when a female voice said: "Hey, watch where you step, asshole!" Only now did he realize that he had walked into two girls, one with blue hair, with her arm around a smaller, brownhaired one.

"You watch your mouth, lady", he shot back. "And maybe open your eyes."

"That's not really nice of you", the brunette said and looked at him.

It was as if someone had thrown Chris into a pool filled with ice water which then froze over him. He knew the face in front of him. This freckled, blue-eyed face had haunted his dreams for eighteen years, ever since that fateful night where he had broken his promise, and it took every single bit of self-control to keep up something that was supposed to be a neutral expression.

Before him, he saw the face of Maxine Caulfield.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins... short question for you guys: how do you think things will go on?


	12. Red snakes and scorched hands

Max kept sobbing into Chloe's shoulder for a while. It wasn't solely out of regret for her mistakes this time, though, but also out of joy.

Joy that Chloe had forgiven her, that she hadn't even hated her for leaving. Joy that Chloe had told her what she needed to hear so desperately, that she wasn't a monster, or a bad friend, but that she was in Chloe's eyes a good person, a good friend.

And to Max, this was what really mattered.

'I have to tell her', she thought. 'She needs to know how I feel.'

"You feeling better?", Chloe asked, and Max nodded, raising her head from her shoulder. "Sorry if I, uh, ruined your shirt."

Chloe snorted. "It's been in worse shape before. Plus, if it makes you feel better, I'll gladly sacrifice it."

Max laughed and wiped her face. "So, what do we do today?"

The blunette shrugged. "I dunno. Hit the beach maybe?" 

Max grinned. "Alright, but I'm the captain." "Like hell you are", the other girl grumbled, but she couldn't hide a smile. 

It almost felt as if they were kids again, Max realized. (Except that by now, they didn't need their parents to drive them down anymore.) 

She barely even realized that Chloe put her arm around her shoulder, but when she did, she moved a bit closer to her friend.

It was a great feeling, and once again Max thought about how much she loved Chloe.

Then, all the sudden she felt a slight bump and then heard Chloe saying "Hey, watch where you step, asshole!", and then a man replying angrily "You watch your mouth, lady. And maybe open your eyes."

'Jeez, this guy is rude', she thought and said herself: "That's not really nice of you."

But then she made the mistake of looking at him. And she was gone again.

She saw flashes of light, archaic symbols flying past her, and dark, deep voices speaking in a language she didn't recognize, chanting something. She saw the picture of a young girl, with brown hair and shining blue eyes, and felt incredible amounts of grief, sorrow, regret, but also hatred, anger, and pain, and the desire to cause it. And once again, she saw the golden hand with the six lights, but this time, it crumbled, the light of the cluster disappeared, the gold began to fall off, until only a skeletal hand remained, the six stars, each having a different colour, fused with the bones, until the bones turned to dust and the stars - 'No, stones!' - fell to the ground while a long red snake crept in the sky. 

And all of the sudden, she was back again, staring at the man, who, as she now saw, had long, blonde locks, a beard, mismatching eyes, one green and one blue... and a red snake tattoed onto his arm that seemingly swallowed a skeletal left hand with highlighted knuckles and a round scar on the back of it.

She tried to remove her glance from the man, but she couldn't. And the strangest thing about it? The man didn't tell her off, or simply walk away.

Instead, her stared right back, a bewildered expression on his face, as if he'd seen a ghost. 

"Chris", a woman standing right next to the door said. "We gotta go." This broke the man's stare and he walked out, while Max simply stared after him. 

* * *

Chloe was out of her depth. 

She'd tried her best to help Max deal with everything that had happened (or would have happened), and she thought she'd done an alright job with it, even with the vision-thingy she'd had on the junkyard. 

But now this rude jerk with his weird eyes and exaggerated tattoos had to show up and ruin everything. 'Can't she just catch a fuckin' break or something? Or is that too much to ask for?', she wondered while she dragged Max to her truck.

Once they were inside and Chloe had started driving, she turned to Max, who still had a dead-shocked expression on her face.

"What the hell happened?", she asked. Max opened her mouth, then closed it, then re-opened it and closed it again. This went on for another three minutes, and Chloe would have found it hilarious, if she hadn't seen Max zone out in the diner and then stare at the weird guy with his tattoos and keep the same creeped-out-face ever since.

Then, finally, Max managed to blurt out a few words. "I had another vision", she said, and immediately, chills crawled up Chloe's spine. "Tell me everything", she half-asked, half-ordered.

Max complied, telling her about the flashes, the symbols, the strange chants, the girl and those strange feelings she'd had while seeing her, and the gauntlet that was scorched and turned into a skeletal hand that dusted, and this snake that crawled around.

"...Wow", was all she could say. "Yeah", Max mumbled.

"And you think that looking at weird-eyes caused it?", she asked. "I'm sure of it", Max said. "I look at him, then I have this vision, then it ends, and I see his left arm."

"The fuck's so special about his left arm?", Chloe asked. "His tattoos", Max replied. "He had a red snake tattooed onto his left arm, and it looked just like the one in my vision. His left hand..."

"Yeah, I saw that one, myself", Chloe muttered, seeing the skeletal tattoo before her eyes. "It's not just that", Max said. "The sta.. the stones on the gauntlet: five were located on the knuckles, and the sixth on the back of the hand, right in the middle. And this guy had highlighted his knuckles  _and_ he had a round scar on the back of his hand, right in the middle."

Chloe let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding. She wanted to tell Max that it probably was nothing but a coincidence, that she shouldn't worry about it, that nothing bad would happen.

For some reason though, she thought that if she said so, she'd be lying. 

She rubbed the scar from where Nathan's bullet had hit her, and silently cursed powers, aliens, mutants, superheroes, supervilains and heretic cults (the last ones because the way that Max had described the chants really seemed to have ripped out of 'Cult-building 101') for making life even more complicated.

"So what do we do now?", Max asked quietly. 

"Your friend Kate may know something 'bout this. I'm pretty sure that there was some weirdo running around with a golden glove in the bible somewhere", Chloe answered. Max snickered. "I'm pretty sure that this wasn't the case, but a third opinion may help us. Warren, too. He knows more 'bout aliens than anyone else I know."

"Warren?", Chloe asked. "That guy who always looks like a lovesick puppy when he looks at you?"

"Wait, what?", Max asked, slightly confused, and the blunette couldn't surpress a chuckle. 

Luckily, she could surpress looking at Max like a lovesick puppy, herself. 

 


	13. The Infinity Legend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the weird title xD

As soon as they were out of the diner, Ana shoved Chris into a wall and hissed: "What the fuck was  _that?"_

"What was what?", he angrily shot back at her. "You know what I am talking about, Chris. You look at that girl and she zones out, then you both look at each other as if you knew each other... What the fucking hell is wrong with you?"

Ana didn't quite know what to expect, but it most certainly wasn't him blinking. "She must have reached out unconciously", he murmured.

That took her by surprise. "And what does that mean?", she asked.

"Chronokinetics can 'bond' with each other to use the other one's powers to enhance their own", he explained. "This bond must usually be consentual, but if a chronokinetic isn't quite in control of his or her powers yet and the other one lets his or her guard down, these things can happen without one or both of them knowing."

Ana inhaled deeply. She hated these 'power-talks', as she called them. They always made her feel weak and powerless, as if there was a bigger world she couldn't possibly dream to be part of (and in a way, this really was the case).

"So you think this girl is... just like you?"

Chis didn't answer that immediately. Finally, he said: "Remember that conversation we had after the briefing?"

"Yeah", she muttered before doing a double-take. "You think this is the same girl?"

"I'm sure of it", he said. "That's why I looked at her the way I did. I had no idea she was chronokinetic herself, and in my surprise, I must have let my guard down for a second, allowing her to merge her mind with mine for a moment."

"How exactly do these bonds work? I mean, is it like mind-reading or something?", Ana asked, confused.

"This can happen, yes", Chris explained. "The primary purpose of these bonds is for the CKs to enhance their powers by connecting their minds, merging them momentarily. However, if one partner lets it happen, or if they are untrained, it can happen that they view... memories, too."

"What kinds of memories?" "The kinds that leave a mark on the rewinder. Important memories, like for example the one of the time when they discovered their powers, or another life-changing event."

Ana silently winced. She knew just what these life-changing events were for Chris, and suddenly she understood why the girl had looked so spooked. 'I wouldn't wish that on anyone.' 

She was actually surprised that Chris didn't go after her immediately for this. She still vividly remembered how he had reacted when a part of his medical file had been leaked on the internet a few weeks ago, and it hadn't been pretty (as far as she knew, the gym still had a shortage of punching bags). 

Then again, he had looked really spooked, too, so it was safe to assume that he didn't realize it himself.

"This changes everything", he muttered. "The connection--"

"Wait wait wait wait", Ana interupted, "hold on a second. You still think there is a connection between the girl and Antarctica?"

"There has to be", Chris answered. "I kept seeing Caulfields face ever since that happened, and if she's a rewinder herself-"

Ana narrowed her eyes. "How do you know her name, exactly?"

Chris hesitated for the split of a second before answering: "Jefferson had a few files in his home. I had a quick look at them after I took him out. I recognized the picture on it, and..." "... and you memorized the name", Ana ended the sentence. "Of course."

She had a faint suspicion that Chris wasn't telling her everything (big surprise, really), but she let it slide for the moment. Instead, she concentrated on the other issue.

"But I still don't get why you think that there is a connection between Caulfield and Antarctica. It seems... well, honestly, it seems impossible", she said. 

He shook his head. "There has to be a connection, Ana. This... thing controlling the hounds... it tried to get into my mind, and ever since then I've seen her face in my nightmares. Whether Caulfield knows it or not, there is a connection between these two."

Ana opened her mouth again, but closed it when her phone buzzed. "It's Viktor", she said after having a look at the display. "He's wondering where we are."

"Right, he needed us at the estate", Chris murmured. "Let's get going then."

He tried to push past Ana, but she grabbed his wrist. "Don't think this conversation is over", she said. He simply rolled his eyes, freed himself from her grip and walked towards the car. Ana cursed and followed.

* * *

Kate and Warren arrived almost simutaneously at the beach. Max and Chloe were sitting on a bench, the brunette resting her head on her friend's shoulder as both watched the sea.

"Max, are you alright?", Warren asked and sprinted towards her. Kate too picked up the pace and placed her hand on Max's shoulder. "What happened?", she asked worriedly.

"I... I had another vision", Max said, her voice still trembling. Kate gasped, while Warren looked confused. "Wait... you're having visions?", he wondered.

Cloe nodded. "Yeah, she has. Long story short, Max can turn back time, she had a vision of a tornado coming to the Bay, thought she could stop it by going back, and it worked, but now she's having visions of a golden hand and hearing voices."

Warren opened and closed his mouth a few times before looking at Max, completely puzzled. "Is she... is she being serious?"

"Yeah, she is", Max answered and told Warren the same story she'd told Kate, only leaving out the more gruesome details. By the time she had ended, it seemed as if Warren's jaw was simply hanging by a thread, and he actually needed to use his hands to close it (which would have been hilarious under other circumstances, Chloe found).

"Wow. That's just... wow", was all he could blurt out. "I know, right?", Chloe said as she lit up a cigarette, earning scolding looks from both Max and Kate (Warren was still trying to process what he had just heard). "What?"

"Healing factor or no, smoking is bad for you, Chloe", Kate said in the tone she probably used on five-year-olds. This was a mistake, though, as Warren blubbered something before asking: "You have..."

The blunette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I heal. Discovered it when Pisscock tried shooting me in the bathroom."

"When..." Warren blinked. "You're the girl that Nathan threatened?!"

"Yeah, that's me. Anyway, back to the actual topic, guys?" Both Kate and Warren nodded, even though the latter still muttered "I'm friends with two superheroes."

Chloe had to surpess a snickering to that.

"What did you see this time?", Kate asked and sat down next to Max, leaving Warren standing. The brunette described what had happened in the diner. Chloe, who had witnessed part of it and already knew the rest, eyed their reactions. Kate grew paler and paler with every word, while Warren looked as if his brain would overheat every moment (not that Chloe could blame him, though. She'd probably react the same way in his place).

When Max finished, Kate pulled her into a hug, which was kinda nice to see, until Warren got his brain working again and joined in, which turned it kinda weird, so Chloe joined in, too, mentally saying to Warren 'My Max!'

"And you think that this guy you two bumped into caused it?", Kate finally asked. Max nodded. "It has to be. I looked at his face, then I got sucked into the vision, it ends and I see two things from it tattoed onto his arm."

"The snake and the bone-hand?", Warren asked for confirmation, and Max nodded again. 

"You mentioned this hand-shaped cluster before", Kate said. "You're saying it actually turned into a gauntlet this time?" "Before it deteriotated, yeah." Max looked at both of them. "Does this ring any bells with any of you?"

Kate was silent, deep in thought, but Warren nodded slowly. "Some of it... actually sounds kinda familiar."

The three girls directed their attention to him. "What of it?", Chloe asked.

"Well... this thing with the golden gauntlet and the six stones... it kinda sounds like the Infinity Legend", the boy answered.

"What's that, Warren?", Kate asked. "It's, err, some old legend that came up again last year. I don't know the full thing, or where it comes from originally - think it's from Norway, though I'm not sure - but it definetely sounds like it."

"What do you know of it, then?", Max asked. 

Warren sighed. "Off the top of my head? It speaks of six powerful gems that predated the universe and were given to some kinds of gods for safe-keeping until they were stolen and scattered around the universe. It was said that they could be united in a gauntlet and that whoever wields that thing... can basically do anything. Like he actually becomes a god with them."

"Great", Chloe murmured. "And how did this shit come up again?" 

"After the alien attack in New York last year, some guy in Norway started posting stuff about it, claiming that one of these gems which his family had kept safe for generations had caused the whole thing in the first place. I don't remember the full post, but he claimed that this gem was kept in a cube and that it had been with his family forever until the Nazis stole it during World War 2. After that, it disappeared from the radar, and he thinks that it was this gem that opened the portal to space."

"Hydra", Chloe said. "What do you mean?", Kate asked. "It wasn't the Nazis who stole the cube, it had been Hydra", she clarified. "And it didn't disappear, it was taken by the americans after Captain America crashlanded into the ice." 

"And you know that... how?", Max asked. "Duh, remember my dad's history magazines? They convered the whole thing on the 60th birthday of Roger's disappearance." "That was more than eight years ago, Chloe." "So?"

"Anyway", Warren said, "I think that these visions you had are connected to this legend. But the rest...sorry, but it doesn't ring a bell."

"The snake in the sky reminds me of the snake in the garden", Kate said. "Maybe it simply means that an evil power is coming after the stones, and that they maybe need someone to protect them."

"But why me?", Max asked. "I'm... I'm no one special." Chloe opened her mouth to say something, but Warren beat her to it.

"This snake-thing and the bonehand remind of something else I read a short while ago", he said. "Not too long ago, someone leaked a few files from a federal organisation called RAENA on the internet. There were a few personnel files among them."

"RAENA? Who the fuck are they?", Chloe asked. 

"The **R** esearch **A** gency for **E** xtra **N** atural **A** ctivities. These guys look into everything that is related to aliens, mutants, magic..."

"Never heard of them", Kate said. "That's not a surprise", Warren stated. "They are pretty secretive, even more so than SHIELD. Much of the stuff they're doing is highly classified."

"Yeah right", Chloe snorted. "You mean highly illegal." Warren nodded, much to everyones surprise. "From what I read in those files? Definetely. Thing is, one of their agents has a few tattoos that look a lot like what you described, Max."

"Let me guess: tall, blonde hair, goatee and mustache, mismatching eyes, and the snake is seemingly swallowing the skeletal hand?", the brunette asked

Warren did a double-take. "Yeah. How did you know?" "Because that's the guy I saw in the diner."

"You don't happen remember that guy's name?", Chloe asked. 

"That's the funny thing", Warren said. "Most names of these files were blacked, removed or incrypted. That guy wasn't, though. Kinda as if whoever leaked the files has a personal vendetta running against him, or..."

"Warren", Max interrupted. "What's his name?"

Warren took a deep breath. "The name listed in the file is Christian Alexander Monfort."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the mystery starts to unfold xD What do you think of the little legend? Did you find the hidden Easter Egg in Warren's tale? And how do you think will our friends react to knowing their enemy (little hint: it may surprise you xD)?


End file.
